128 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA, AKD ITS METEOROLOGY. 



spherical rarefaction over the land. This depends in a measure, 

 also, upon the character of the land upon which the sea breeze 

 blows ; for when the surface is arid and the soil barren, the heating 

 power of the sun is exerted with most eflfect. In such cases the 

 sea breeze amounts to a gale of wind. In the summer of the 

 southern hemisphere the sea breeze is more powerfully developed 

 at Valparaiso than at any other place to which my services afloat 

 have led me. Here regularly in the afternoon, at this season, the 

 sea breeze blows fm'iously ; pebbles are torn up from the walks 

 and whirled about the streets ; people seek shelter ; the Almen- 

 dral is deserted, business interrupted, and all communication fi.'om 

 tlie shipping to the shore is cut off. Suddenly the wwls and the 

 sea, as if they had again heard the voice of rebuke, are hushed, 

 and there is a great calm. 



^_ 313. The lull that follows is delightful. The sky is -without a 

 The contrast, cloud ; the atmosphcro is transparency itself ; the 

 Andes seem to draw near ; the climate, always mild and soft, be- 

 comes now doubly sweet by the contrast. The evening imdtes 

 abroad, and the population sally forth — the ladies in ball costume, 

 for nov/ there is not wind enough to disarrange the lightest curl. 

 In the southern summer this change takes place day after day 

 with the utmost regularity, and yet the calm always seems to sur- 

 prise, and to come before one has time to reahze that the furious 

 sea vrnid could so soon be hushed. Presently the stars begin to 

 j)eep out, timidly at first, as if to see whether the elements here 

 below had ceased their strife, and if the scene on earth be such as 

 they, from their bright spheres aloft, may shed their sweet influences 

 upon. Shius, or that blazing world -n Argus, may be the first 

 watcher to send down a feeble ray ; then follow another and an- 

 other, all smiling meekly ; but presently, in the short t-^^light of 

 the latitude, the bright leaders of the starry host blaze forth in all 

 their glory, and the sky is decked and spangled ^vith superb bril- 

 liants. In the twinkling of an eye, and faster than the admiring 

 gazer can tell, the stars seem to leap out from theh^ hiding-places. 

 By invisible hands, and in quick succession, the constellations are 

 hmig out ; iDut first of ail, and with dazzling glory, in the azure 

 depths of space appears the Great Southern Cross. That shining 

 symbol lends a holy grandem- to the scene, making it still more 

 impressive. Alone in the night-watch, after the sea breeze has 

 sunk to rest, I have stood on the deck under those beautiful skies 

 gazing, admiring, rapt. I have seen there, above the horizon at 



