290 ' philosophical geography. Feb, 22. 



and mountainous, the cold in these regions is much 

 greater than in the more flat countries of Arabia and 

 India ; so that the wind naturally blows from these 

 cold regions, in the stimmer season, towards the 

 wirmer continent of Asia ; which occasions those in- 

 flections of the wind to the eastward, that take place 

 in these seas during the summer months. This ef- 

 fect is still farther promoted by the peninsula of In- 

 dia, the kingdom of Siam, and the islands of Sumatra 

 and Java, on the eastern part of this ocean, lying so 

 much farther to the south than the kingdoms of Ara- 

 bia and Persia, which naturally draw the wind to- 

 . "wards them, and produce the easterly variation of 

 the monsoon which takes place in this part of the 

 ocean, while the sandy deserts, of Arabia draw the 

 "winds niore directly northward, near the African 

 coast. 



In the eastern parts of the Indian ocean, beyond 

 the island of Sumatra, along the southern parts of 

 China, and among the Philippine islands, i^c. to the 

 north of the equator, the monsoons observe a dif- 

 ferent direction, blowing nearly due south and nortli. 

 Here the greatest part of the warm continent lies to 

 the west of this district, which makes the wind na- 

 turally afsume this direction. A little farther to 

 the eastward, among the Marianne islands, the gene- 

 ral iradr-wind takes place, there being no continent 

 to the north of them to occasion monsoons. 



The monsoons are as regular in the eastern part 

 of the Indian ocean for a small space, to the south of the 

 equator, as they are to the north of it ; here a north- 

 ern moreoon sets in from the montli of October till 

 April, and a southern from April till October ; and 



