§ G63-G65. SEA ROUTES, CALM BELTS, ETC. 355 



663. Observations show that the mean weight of the barometer 

 Winds in the southern ^^^ l^ig^i southem is much less (Plate I.) than it is 

 SX^'nUhernhemt i^^ Corresponding high northern latitudes; conse- 

 ^P^^^^- quently, we should expect that the polar-bound 

 winds would be much more marked on the polar side of 40° S., 

 than they are on the polar side of 40° IST. Accordingl}^, observa- 

 tions (Plate XV.) show such to be the case ; and they moreover 

 show that the polar-bound winds of the southern are much fresh- 

 er than those of the northern hemisphere. 



664. To appreciate the force and volume of these polar-bcund 

 The waves and -ales wiuds in the southcm hemisT^here, it is necessary 



off the Cape of Good , 1 1 i i, i tii-i V 



Hope. that one snould " run them down m that waste of 



waters beyond the parallel of 40° S., where "the winds howl and 

 the seas roar.'' The billows there lift themselves up in long ridges 

 with deep hollows between them. They run high and fast, toss- 

 ing their white caps aloft in the air, looking like the green hills 

 of a rolling prairie capped with snow, and chasing each other in 

 sport. Still, their march is stately and their roll majestic. The 

 scenery among them is grand, and the Australian-bound trader, 

 after doubling the Cape of Good Hope, finds herself followed for 

 weeks at a time by these magnificent rolling swells, driven and 

 lashed by the "brave west winds" most furiously. A sailor's 

 bride, performing this voyage with her gallant husband, thus al- 

 ludes in her " abstract log" to these rolling seas : " We had some 

 magnificent gales off the Cape, when the coloring of the waves, 

 the transition from gray to clear brilliant green, with the milky- 

 white foam, struck me as most exquisite. And then in rough 

 weather the moral picture is so fine, the calmness and activity 

 required is such an exhibition of the power of mind over the ele- 

 ments, that I admired the sailors fully as much as the sea, and, cf 

 course, the sailor in command most of all ; indeed, a sea voyage 

 more than fulfills my expectations." 



665. It appears, therefore, that the low barometer about the 

 Winds blow from a polcs and the low barometer of the equator cause 



high to a l0A7 barom- •*■. -t n • t i • i i i • 



eter. au lurush of wmd, and m each case the rusnmg 



wind comes from the high and blows toward the low barometer ; 

 that in one hemisphere the calm belt of Capricorn, and in the oth- 

 er the calm belt of Cancer, occupies the medial line between these 

 places of low barometer. 



