174 Prof. E. Mitchell on the Proximate 



the northerly where it obtains is less than that of the westerly 

 over the easterly. Thus, in the abstract of Dr Lovell, the 

 westerly winds are to the easterly as 12.59 to 9-63 ; the south- 

 erly to the northerly as 12.59 to 11.60. On the whole, there 

 can be little room for doubt, that the winds from the north pre- 

 dominate over those from the south within the limits of the 

 United States. This method of estimating the amount of wind 

 in any direction by the number of days it blows from that point, 

 is exceedingly defective, and may (as where the wind is com- 

 monly violent in one direction and gentle in another, and the 

 force with which it blows is altogether neglected) lead to the 

 most erroneous results. This happens to be the case in this 

 country. Our south-west winds prevail chiefly in the summer 

 season ; they are mild breezes, subsiding often into a calm, 

 which continues during a considerable part of the day. Our 

 north-west winds, on the other hand, sweep over the continent 

 day and night, with a constancy and velocity which renders it 

 necessary to make a considerable allowance when we are esti- 

 mating the amount of movement in the atmosphere by the time 

 during which it occurs. 



(f.) "■ The north winds (los nortes), which are north-west 

 winds, blow in the Gulf of Mexico from the autumnal to the 

 spring equinox. These north wind hurricanes generally remain 

 for three or four days, and sometimes for ten or twelve *." 



{g.) If there be a predominance of either northerly or south- 

 erly winds in the North Pacific Ocean, it is not such as to have 

 attracted the particular attention of navigators. " On the 

 north-west coast of America, from the Straits of Behring to 30° 

 of northern latitude, the winds are variable. Captain Cook 

 found in March, in the 44th degree of latitude, a fresh and con- 

 stant north-west, which continued until the beginning of sum- 

 mer, with the exception of a south-east, which lasted, however, 

 only six hours ; and La Perouse, Portlock, and Dixon did not 

 experience the south winds in the summer. According to Van- 

 couver and the Spanish navigators, the north and north-west are 

 tlie most prevailing. (Krlisenstern.) All this, however, applies 

 almost exclusively to the summer months. During the winter, 



* Humboldt's New Spain, book i. chap. 3. See also Poinsett's Mexico, in 

 regard to the violence of these winds. 



