378 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



clouds are again packed together ; the wind dies away, but it will 

 soon be waked up to come again from another point. Finally, 

 the regular land and sea breezes gradually replace rain, and tem- 

 pests, calms, and gentle gales. The rain holds up during the 

 day, and in the Java Sea we have the east monsoon. It is then 

 May. Farther to the south than the Java Sea the east monsoon 

 commences in April." This monsoon prevails till September or 

 October, when it turns to become the west monsoon. It has 

 seemed to me that the east monsoon does not blow the same in 

 every month, that its direction becomes more southerly, and its 

 power greater after it has prevailed for some time.f 



707. "It is sufficiently important to fix the attention, seeing 

 Currents. that thcsc circumstauccs have great influence upon 



the winds in the many straits of the Archipelago, in which strong 

 currents run most of the time. Especially in the straits to the 

 east of Java these currents are very strong. I have been unable 

 to stem the current with eight-mile speed. However, they do not 

 always flow equally strong, nor always in the same direction. 

 They are probably the strongest when the tidal current and the 

 equatorial current meet together. It is said that the currents in 

 the straits during the east monsoon run eighteen hours to the 

 north and six hours to the south, and the reverse during the west 

 monsoon. The passing of the meridian by the moon appears to 

 be the fixed point of time for the turning of the currents. It is 

 probable that the heated water of the Archipelago is discharged 

 to the north during the east monsoon, and to the south during the 

 west monsoon. 



708. "As the sea makes the coming of the southern summer 

 Marking the seasons, kuowu to the inhabitants of the Java coast,:j: the 



* In the northeast part of the Archipelago the east monsoon is the rainy monsoou. 

 The phenomena in the northeast part are thus wholly diflferent from those in the Java 

 Sea. — Jansen. 



t As is well known, the Strait of Soerabaya forms an elbow whose easterly outlet 

 opens to the east, while the westerly outlet opens to the north. In the beginning of 

 the east monsoon the sea-wind (east monsoon) blows through the westerly entrance 

 as far as Grissee (in the elbow) ; in the latter part of this monsoon, the sea-wind 

 blows, on the contrary, through the easterly entrance as far as Sambilangan (the nar- 

 row passage where the westerly outlet opens into the sea). — Jansen. 



X In the Archipelago we have generally high water but once a day, and, with the 

 equinoxes, the tides also turn. The places which have high water by day in one 

 monsoon get it at night in the other. — Jansen. 



