STORMS, HURRICANES, AND TYPHOONS. 397 



770. The sperm whale is a warm-water fish. The right whale 

 Sperm whales, delights in cold water. An immense number of 



log-books of whalers have been discussed at the National Obser- 

 vatory with the view of detecting the parts of the ocean in which 

 the whales are to be found at the different seasons of the year. 

 Cliarts showing the results have been published ; they form a 

 part of the series of Maury's AVind and Current Charts. 



771. In the course of these investigations, the discovery was 

 A sea of fire to them, made that the torrid zone is, to the right whale, as 

 a sea of fire, through which he cannot pass; that the right 

 whale of the northern hemisphere and that of the southern are 

 two different animals; and that the sperm whale has never 

 been known to double the Cape of Good Hope — he doubles 

 Cape Horn. 



772. With these remarks, and the explanation given on Plate 

 Right whales. IX., the parts of the ocean to which the right 



whale most resorts, and the parts in which the sperm are found, 

 may be seen at a glance. The sargassos, or places of weed, are 

 also represented on this plate. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



§ 781-808. — STORMS, HURRICANES, AND TYPHOONS. 



781. Plate Y. is constructed from data furnished by the 

 Plate V. Pilot Charts, as far as they go, that are in process 

 of construction at the National Observatory. For the Pilot Charts, 

 the whole ocean is divided off into " fields " or districts of five de- 

 grees square, ^. e. five degrees of latitude by five degrees of longi- 

 tude, as already stated in the *' Explanation of the Plates." 

 Now, in getting out from the log-books materials for showing, in 

 every district of the ocean, and for every month, how navigators 

 have found the winds to blow, it has been assumed that, in whatever 

 part of one of these districts a navigator may be when he records 

 the direction of the wind in his log, from that direction the wind 

 was blowing at that time all over that district ; and this is the 

 only assumption that is permitted in the whole course of the 

 investigation. Now if the navigator will draw, or imagine to be 

 drawn in any such district, twelve vertical columns for the twelve 

 months, and then sixteen horizontal lines through the same for 



