THE WINDS OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 433 



to the edge of tlie calm belt of Capricorn, is revohing in spiral 

 curves, continually going with the hands of a watch, and twisting 

 from left to right. 



837. In studying the workings of the various parts of the 

 Discovery of design physical machinery that smTounds oiu' planet, it is 



111 the meteorological -^ , -^ pi- i hl i i i t l i ^ 



machinery. always reiresnmg and prontable to detect, even by 



glimmerings never so faint, the slightest tracings of the purpose 

 which .the Omnipotent Architect of the universe designed to ac- 

 complish, by any particular arrangement among its various parts. 

 Thus it is in tliis instance : whether the train of reasoning which 

 we have been endeavouring to follow up, or whether the argu- 

 ments which we I have been adducing to sustain it be entirely 

 correct or not, we may, from all the facts and cu^cumstances 

 that we have passed in review, find reasons sufficient for regard- 

 ing in an instructive, if not in a new hght, that vast waste of 

 waters which surrounds the imexplored regions of the antarctic 

 circle. It is a reservou- of d}Tiamical force for the winds, — a regu- 

 lator in the gi'and meteorological machinery of the earth. The 

 heat which is transported by the vapours with which that sea loads 

 its superincumbent ah' is the chief source of the motive power 

 which gives to the winds of the southern hemisphere, as they move 

 through then' channels of circulation, their high speed, great regu- 

 larity, and consistency of volume. And this insight into the work- 

 ings of the wonderful machinery of sea and air we obtain from com- 

 parmg together the relative speed of vessels as they sail to and fro 

 upon intertropical seas ! 



838. Such is the picture which, after no little labour, much re- 

 indications which the search, and some thought, the winds have enabled 

 i^g the unexpZ'eT" "^^ ^^ draw of Certain unexplored portions of our 

 regions of the south, pknct. As WO havo dra^-n the picture, so, from 

 the workings of the meteorological machinery of the southern 

 hemisphere, we judge it to be. The evidence which has been in- 

 troduced is meteorological in its nature, ckcumstantial in its cha- 

 racter, we admit ; but it shows the idea of land in the antarctic 

 regions — of much land, and high land — to be plausible at least. 

 Not only so : it suggests that a group of active volcanoes there 

 would by no means be inconsistent with the meteorological phe- 

 nomena which we have been investigating. True, volcanoes in 

 such a place may not be a meteorological necessity. We cannot 

 say that they are ; yet the force and regularity of the winds 

 remind us that their presence there would not be inconsistent 



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