§ 822. 



THE WINDS OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 



439 



servations, and that for every 1000 observations there were 24 

 gales with easting and 105 with westing. In the southern, there 

 were 19,473 observations, and for every 1000 of these there were 

 5 gales with easting and 80 with westing in them. Those for the 

 southern hemisphere are only for that part of the ocean through 

 which vessels pass on their way to and fro around Cape Horn. 

 That part of this route which lies between 40° and 55° S. is un- 

 der the lee of South America ; and Patagonia, that lies east of the 

 Andes, is almost a rainless region ; consequently, we might expect 

 to find more unsteady winds and fewer rains in that part of the 

 ocean where the observations for the southern part of the tables 

 were made than we should expect to meet with well out to sea, 

 as at the distance of two or three thousand miles to the eastward 

 of Patagonia. So that the contrast presented by the above state- 

 ment would probably be much greater did our observations ex- 

 tend entirely across the South, as they do across the North Atlan- 

 tic. But as it is, the contrast is very striking. In some aspects, 

 the meteorological agents of the two hemispheres, especially those 

 forces which control the winds and the weather, differ very much. 

 The difference is so wide as to suggest greater regularity and ra- 

 pidity of circulation on one side of the equator than on the other. 



822. Average Number of Calms to the 1000 Observations between the Parallels of 

 Calms in the two 3^° <^^'<^ 5^° ^^ '^^ North and South Atlantic, and between the 

 hemispheres. Parallels o/30° and 60° in the North and South Pacific Oceans, 



as shown by the Pilot Charts. 



Each one of these observations embraces a period of eight hours; 

 the grand total, if arranged consecutively, with the observations 



