§ 818, 819. THE WINDS OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 437 



stant blowing over a wide expanse of ocean are required to get 

 up such waves. It is these winds and waves which, on the voy- 

 age to and from Australia, have enabled the modern clipper-ship 

 to attain a speed, and, day after day, to accomplish runs which at 

 first were considered, even by the nautical world, as fabulous, and 

 are yet regarded by all wath wonder and admiration. 



818. Seeing, therefore, that we can bring in such a variety of 

 A meteorological co- ^^^ts and circumstanccs, all tending to show that the 

 ^"^^^^y- southeast trade-winds are stronger than the north- 

 east, and that the westerly winds which prevail on the polar side 

 of 40° S. are stronger and more constant than their antoecian fel- 

 lows of the north, we may consider it as a fact established, inde- 

 pendently of Plate XIII., that the general system of atmospheric- 

 al circulation is more active in the southern than it is in the north- 

 ern hemisphere. And, seeing that it blows with more strength 

 and regularity from the west in the extra-tropical regions of the 

 southern than it does in the extra-tropical regions of the northern 

 hemisphere, we ^ould deduce, by way of corollary, that the coun- 

 ter-trades of the south are not so easily arrested in their course, or 

 turned back in their circuits, as are those of the north. Conse- 

 quently, moreover, we should not, either in the trades or the coun- 

 ter-trades of the southern hemisphere, look for as many calms as 

 in those of the northern systems. 



819. Therefore, holding to this corollary, we may consider the 

 Facts established, followiug as established facts in meteorology : That 



the S.E. trade-winds are stronger than the N.E. ; that the N.AV. 

 passage- winds — the counter-trades of the south — are stronger and 

 less liable to interruption in their circuits than the S.W., the coun- 

 ter-trades of the north ; that the atmospherical circulation is more 

 regular and brisk in the southern than it is in the northern hemi- 

 sphere ; and, to repeat : since the wind moves in its circuits more 

 briskly through the southern than it does through the northern, 

 hemisphere, it consequently has less time to tarry or dally by the 

 way in the south than in the north ; hence the corollary just stated. 

 But observations also, as well as mathematically-drawn inferen- 

 ces, show that calms are much less prevalent in the southern hemi- 

 sphere. For this inference observations are ample ; they are group- 

 ed together by thousands and tens of thousands, both on the Pilot 

 and the Storm and Eain Charts. These charts have not been com- 



