RED FOGS AND SEA BREEZES. 133 



spreading circle of phenomena connected with the winds of 

 lieaven and the waves of the sea are second to none for the 

 good which they do and for the lessons which they teach. The 

 astronomer is said to see the hand of God in the sky ; but 

 does not the right-minded mariner, who looks aloft as he ponders 

 over these things, hear his voice in every wave of the sea that 

 " claps its hands," and feel his presence in every breeze that 

 blows ? 



CHAPTER VI. 



§ 311-332. RED FOGS AND SEA BREEZES. 



311. The alternations of land and sea breezes. — 'The inhabitants of 

 the sea-shore in tropical countries wait every morning with 

 impatience the coming of the sea breeze. It usually sets in 

 about ten o'clock. Then the sultry heat of the oppressive morn- 

 ing is dissipated, and there is a delightful freshness in the air 

 which seems to give new life to all for their daily labours. 

 About sunset there is again another calm. The sea breeze is 

 now done, and in a short time the land breeze sets in. This 

 alternation of the land and sea breeze — a wind from the sea by 

 day and from the land by night— is so regular in intertropical 

 countries, that they are looked for by the people wdth as much 

 confidence as the rising and setting of the sun. 



312. The sea breeze at Valjparaiso. — In extra- tropical countries, 

 especially those on the polar side of the trade-winds, this pheno- 

 menon is presented only in summer and fall, when the heat of 

 the sun is sufficiently intense to produce the requisite degree of 

 atmospherical 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 etiect. In 

 such cases the sea breeze amounts to a gale of wind. In the 

 summer of the southern hemisphere the Seabreeze is more power- 

 fully developed at Valparaiso than at any other place to which 

 my services afloat have led me. Here regularly in the afrer- 

 noon, at this season, the sea breeze blows furiously ; pebbles 

 are torn up from the w^alks and whirled about the streets ; 

 people seek shelter ; the Almendral is deserted, business inter- 

 rupted, and all communication from the shipping to the shore is 



