§628-630. SEA ROUTES, CALM BELTS, ETC. 337 



135 days. This route is now so well established, and the winds of 

 the various climates so well understood, that California bound ves- 

 sels sailing about the same time from the various ports of Europe 

 and America are, if they be at all of like prowess, almost sure to 

 fall in with and speak each other by the way. 



628. The calm belts at sea, like mountains on the land, stand 

 Obstructions to the mightily in the way of the voyager, but, like mount- 

 uavigator. sLius^ thcy havc thcir passes and their gaps. In the 

 regions of light airs, of baffling winds, and deceitful currents, the 

 seaman finds also his marshes and his "mud-holes" on the water. 

 But these, these researches have taught him how best to pass or 

 entirely to avoid. Thus the forks to his road, its turnings, and the 

 crossings by the way, have been so clearly marked by the winds 

 for him that there is scarcely a chance for him who studies the 

 lights before him, and pays attention to the directions given, to 

 miss his way. 



629. The arrows of Plate VIII. are supposed to fly with the 

 Plate vm. wind; the half-bearded and half-feathered arrows 



denote monsoons or periodic winds ; the dotted bands, the regions 

 of calm and baffling winds. Monsoons, properly speaking, are 

 winds which blow one half of the year from one direction, and 

 the other half from an opposite, or nearly an opposite direction. 

 The time of the changing of these winds, and their boundaries at 

 the various seasons of the year, have been discussed in such num- 

 bers and mapped down in such characters that the navigator who 

 wishes to take advantage of them or to avoid them altogether is 

 no longer in any doubt as to when and where they may be found. 



630. Let us commence the study of the calm belts as they are 

 Deserts. represented on Plates I. and YIII. Both the mon- 

 soons and trade-winds are also represented on the latter. They 

 often occupy the same region. But, turning to the trade-winds 

 for a moment, we see that the belt or zone of the southeast trade- 

 winds is broader than the belt or zone of northeast trades. This 

 phenomenon is explained by the fact that there is more land in 

 the northern hemisphere, and that most of the deserts of the earth 

 — as the great deserts of Asia and Africa — are situated in the 

 rear, or behind the northeast trades ; so that, as these deserts be- 

 come more or less heated, there is a call — a pulling back, if you 

 plenpe — iipon these trades to turn about and restore the cquilibri- 



Y 



