THE EQUATORIAL CLOUD-RING. i^j 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE EQUATORIAL CLOUD-RING. 



Description of the Equatorial Doldrums, ^ 346. — Oppressive Weather, 348. — The Of- 

 fices performed by Clouds in the terrestrial Economy, 349. — The Barometer and 

 Thermometer under the Cloud-ring, 350. — Its Offices, 353. — How its Vapors are 

 brought by the Trade- Winds, 361. — Breadth of the Cloud-ring, 363. — How it 

 would appear if seen from one of the Planets, 364. — Observations at Sea interest- 

 ing, 368. 



345. Seafaring people have, as if by common consent, divided 

 the ocean off into regions, and characterized them according to 

 the winds ; e. g., there are the " trade-wind regions," the " varia- 

 bles," the " horse latitudes," the " doldrums," &cc. The " horse 

 latitudes" are the belts of calms and light airs (§ 101) w^hich bor- 

 der the Polar edge of the northeast trades. They were so called 

 from the circumstance that vessels formerly bound from New En- 

 gland to the West Indies, with a deck load of horses, were often 

 so delayed in this calm belt of Cancer, that, for the want of water 

 for their animals, they were compelled to throw a portion of them 

 overboard. 



346. The " equatorial doldrums" is another of these calm places 

 (§ 104). Besides being a region of calms and baffling winds, it is 

 a region noted for its rains and clouds, which make it one of the 

 most oppressive and disagreeable places at sea. The emigrant 

 ships from Europe for Australia have to cross it. They are often 

 baffled in it for two or three weeks ; then the children and the 

 passengers who are of delicate health suffer most. It is a fright- 

 ful grave-yard on the way-side to that golden land. 



347. A vessel bound into the southern hemisphere from Europe 

 or America, after clearing the region of variable winds and cross- 

 ing the " horse latitudes," enters the northeast trades. Here the 

 mariner finds the sky sometimes mottled w^th clouds, but for the 

 most part clear. Here, too, he finds his barometer rising and fall- 

 ing under the ebb and flow of a regular atmospherical tide, which 

 gives a high and low barometer every day with such regularity 



