MONSOONS. 365 



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 ap- 

 pears to be the fixed point of time for the turning of the currents. 

 It is probable that the heated water of the Archipelago is dis- 

 charcjed to the north durino^ the east monsoon, and to the south 

 during the west monsoon. 



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

 iviarking the seasons, kuowu to the inhabitants of the Java coast,* the 

 turning of the east monsoon into the west monsoon commences. 

 After the sun has finished its yearly task in the northern hemi- 

 sphere, and brings its powerful influence to operate in the southern 

 hemisphere, a change is at once perceived in the constant fine 

 weather of the east monsoon of the Java Sea. As soon as it is at 

 its height upon the Java Sea (6° south), then the true turning of 

 the monsoon begins, and is accomplished much more rapidly 

 than the spring turning. The calms then are not so continuous. 

 The combat in the upper atmosphere appears to be less violent ; 

 the south-east trade, which has blown as the east monsoon, does 

 not seem to have sufficient strength to resist the aggressors, who, 

 with wild storms from the north-west and west, make their 

 superiority known. Upon and in the neighbourhood of the land 

 thunder-storms occur, but at sea they are less frequent. 



709. "The atmosphere, alternately clear and cloudy, moves 

 Conflicts in the air. more definitely ovor from the north-west, so that 

 it appears as if no combat was there waged, and the south-east 

 gives place without a contest. The land breezes become less 

 frequent, and the phenomena by day and night become, in a 

 certain sense, more accordant with each other. Storms of wind 

 and rain beneath a clouded sky alternate with severe gales and 

 steady winds. In the last of November the west monsoon is 

 permanent. 



* 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. 



