326 On the Hurricanes and Storms of the West Indies, Sfc. 

 ought not to be neglected, even should the fall of the mercury- 

 be unattended by any appearances of violence in the weather, as 

 the other side of the gale will be pretty sure to take effect, 

 and often in a manner so sudden and violent as to more than 

 compensate for its previous forbearance. Not the^least reliance, 

 however, should be placed upon the prognostics which are usu- 

 ally attached to the scale of the barometer, such as Set-Fair, 

 Fair, Change, Rain, &c., as in this region at least, they serve 

 no other purpose than to bring this valuable instrument into 

 discredit. It is the mere rising and faUing of the mercury 

 which chiefly deserves attention, and not its conformity to a par- 

 ticular point in the scale of elevation. 



10. These practical inferences apply in terms chiefly to storms 

 which have passed to the northward of the 30th degree of lati- 

 tude on the American coast, but with the necessary modifica- 

 tion as to the point of the compass, which results from the 

 westerly course pursued by the storm while in the lower lati- 

 tudes, are, for the most part, equally applicable to the storms 

 and hurricanes which occur in the West Indies, and south of 

 the parallel of 30°. As the marked occurrence of tempestuous 

 weather is here less frequent, it may be sufficient to notice, that 

 the direction of the winds of the West Indian seas is from 8 to 

 11 points of the compass more to theleft than on the coast of the 

 United States in the latitude of New York. 



Vicissitudes of winds and weather on this coast which do not 

 conform to the foregoing specifications are more frequent in 

 April, May, and June, than in other months. At this season 

 it is not uncommon to find a regular current of easterly wind 

 prevailing for many days, producing sometimes heavy rains, and 

 always an elevated state of the barometer. Easterly or south- 

 erly winds, under which the barometer rises or maintains its ele- 

 vation, are not of a gyratory or stormy character ; but such 

 winds frequently terminate in the falling of the barometer, and 

 the usual phenomena of an easterly storm. 



The typhoons and storms of the China sea and eastern coast 

 of Asia appear to be similar in character to the hurricanes of 

 the West Indies, and the storms of the North American coast, 

 when prevailing in the same latitudes. There is reason to be- 

 lieve that the great circuits of wind, of which the trade ^vinds 



