136 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA, KKD ITS METEOROLOGY. 



320. But on the opposite side — on the coast of Brazil, as at Per- 

 and breeze in Bra- namhiico, for instanco — where the trade-wind comes- 

 11 and Cuba. from the sea, we should have this condition of things- 

 reversed, and the sea breeze will prevail for most of the time — 

 then it is the land breeze which is feeble and of short duration : it 

 is rarely felt. Again, the land and sea breezes in Cuba, and along, 

 the Gulf shores of the United States, will be more regular in their 

 alternations than they are along the shores of Brazil or South 

 Afiica, and for the simple reason that the Gulf shores lie nearly 

 parallel with the prevailing direction of the winds. In Kio de Ja- 

 neiro, the sea breeze is the regular trade-v/ind made freshei' by tha 

 daily action of the sun on the land. It is worthy of remark, also,, 

 that, for the reason stated by Jansen, the land and sea breezes in 

 the winter time are almost unknown in countries of severe cold, 

 though in the summer the alternation of wind from land to sea,, 

 and sea to land, may be well marked. 



321. "Happy he," remarks Jansen, "who, in the Java Sea at 

 Nighty scenes when eveuing, scckiug tho land breeze off the coast, finds 

 breezl. it there, after the salt-bearing, roaring sea wind, and 

 can, in the magnificent nights of the tropics, breathe the refresh- 

 ing land breeze, ofttimes laden with delicious odours.* The veil 

 of clouds, either after a' squall, with or without rain, or after the. 

 coming of the land breeze, is speedily withdrawn, and leaves tho 

 sky clearer during the night, only now and then flecked with dark 

 clouds floating over from the land. Without these floating clouds 

 the land breeze is feeble. When the clouds float away from the. 

 sea, the land breeze does not go far out from the coast, or is wholly 

 replaced by the sea breeze, or, rather, by the trade-:^vind. If 

 the land breeze continues, then the stars loom forth, as if to free 

 themselves from the dark vault of the heavens, but their light does 

 not wholly vanquish its deep blue, which causes the Coal-sacks ta 

 come out more distinctly near the Southern Cross, as it smiles, 

 consolingly upon us, while Scorpio, the emblem of the tropical cli- 

 mate, stands like a warning in the heavens. The starlight, which 

 is reflected by the mirrored waters, causes the nights to vie in 

 clearness with the early twilight in high latitudes. Numerous 

 shooting stars weary the eye, although they break the monotony 

 of the sparkling firmament. Their unceasing motion in the un- 

 fathomable ocean afibrds a great contrast to the seeming quiet of 

 the gently-flowing, aerial current of the land breeze. But at times,, 



* In the Koads of Batavia, however, they are not very agreeable. — Jansen. 



