284 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



when the southeast trade blows as the east monsoon, we find the 

 southwest monsoon in the adjacent seas of the northern hemi- 

 sphere. Generally the w^esterly monsoons blow during the sum- 

 mer months of the hemisphere wherein they are found. 



822. "As the land-breeze daily destroys in miniature the regu- 

 lar flow of the trade-wind, so does the latter the west monsoon in 

 larger measure, and observations will be able to decide whether 

 monthly disturbances do not also take place. 



823. " In the Java Sea, during the month of February, the west 

 monsoon blows strong almost continually ; in March it blows in- 

 termittingly, and with hard squalls ; but in April the squalls be- 

 come less frequent and less severe. Now the changing commen- 

 ces ; all at once gusts begin to spring up from the east : they are 

 often followed by calms.' The clouds which crowd themselves 

 upon the clear sky give warning of the combat in the upper air 

 which the currents there are about to wage with each other. 



824. "The electricity, driven thereby out of its natural channels, 

 in which, unobserved, it has been performing silently, but with the 

 full consciousness of its power, the mysterious task appointed to 

 it, now displays itself with dazzling majesty ; its sheen and its 

 voice fill with astonishment and deep reverence the mind of the 

 sailor — so susceptible, in the presence of storm and darkness, to 

 impressions that inspire feelings both of dread and anxiety, which 

 hy pretended occupations he strives in vain to conceal.* 



825. " Day and night we now have thunder-storms. The clouds 

 are in continual movement, and the darkened air, laden with vapor, 

 flies in all directions through the skies. The combat which the 

 clouds seem to court and to dread appears to make them more 

 thirsty than ever. They resort to extraordinary means to refresh 

 themselves ; in tunnel form, when time and opportunity fail to 

 allow them to quench their thirst from the surrounding atmos- 

 phere in the usual manner, they descend near the surface of the 

 sea, and appear to lap the water directly up with their black 

 mouths. Water-spouts, thus created, are often seen in the chang- 

 ing season, especially among small groups of islands which appear 



* No phenomena in nature make a deeper impression upon the sailor than a dark 

 thunder-storm in a calm at sea. — Jansen. 



