170 Prof. E. Mitchell on the Proximate 



us. The " swamp" was much less formidable than we expect- 

 ed; we have had but little rain, only a short calm, and no 

 thunder-storm, though the " artillery of the heavens" has been 

 heard almost constantly at a distance. We crossed the Line yes- 

 terday morning, in longitude 24 degrees west *." 



" About the period of the. last date, we entered the northeast 

 trade winds, and have been rushing on before their freshness at 

 the rate of more than two hundred miles a day ■f-.'" 



" We resumed our course to the north (from latitude 2° N.) 

 having fine weather and a gentle breeze, at east and east-south- 

 east, till we got into the latitude of T 45' north, and the longitude 

 of 205° east, where we had one calm day. This was succeeded by 

 a north-east by east and east-north-east wind. At first it blew 

 faint, butjreshened as we advanced to the north j." 



Between the longitudes of 160° and 172" east, and in the lati- 

 tudes specified, Commodore Byron had " only faint breezes 

 with smooth xoater"^ — " we most ardently wished for a fresh 

 gale, especially as the heat was still intolerable, the glass for a 

 long time having never been lower than 81°, but often up to 

 84° ||." 



II. Between the latitudes of 20° and 60°, in both the northern 

 and southern hemisphere, westerly winds predominate over those 

 from the east quarter, in a ratio probably somewhat greater than 

 that of2»to% 



(a.) Daniell states that, " in Great Britain, on an average of 

 ten years, westerly winds exceed the easterly, in the proportion 

 of 225 to 140 §." 



(J.) The Meteorology of Cotte, in 3 vols. 4to, is a vast repo- 

 sitory of facts in this science, of very unequal value. It ap- 

 pears from the tables contained in the last volume, that, gene- 

 rally, in the central and western parts of Europe, and in some 

 parts of Asia, westerly winds prevail. This is the case in most 

 parts of France, at Amsterdam, Berne, Berlin, Stockholm, St 

 Petersburg, Aleppo, Bassora and Bagdad — Copenhagen is the 



• Stewart's Journal in the Atlantic 



f Stewart's Journal in the Pacific, W. Long. 134% Lat. SJ*. 



X Cook's Last Voyage. || Hawkes worth's "Voyages, vol. i. p. 138. 



§ Meteorological Essays, p. 114. 



