144 rnTSicAL geography of the sea, and its meteorology. 



6iin rises. The time at which it becomes calm after the land and 

 >ea breezes is indefinite, and the cabns are of unequal duration. 

 Generally, those which precede the sea breeze arc rather longer 

 than those which precede the land breeze. The temperature of 

 the land, the direction of the coast-line with respect to the pre- 

 vailing direction of the trade-wind in which the land is situated, 

 the clearness of the atniospliere, the position of the sun, perhaps 

 also that of the moon, the surface over which the sea breeze 

 blows, possibly also the degree of moisture and the electrical 

 state of the air, the heights of the mountains, their extent, and 

 their distance from the coast, all have influence thereon. Local 

 observations in regard to these can afford much light, as well as 

 •determine the distance at which the land breeze blows from the 

 coast, and beyond which the regular trade-wind or monsoon con- 

 tinues uninterruptedly to blow. The direction of land and sea 

 winds must also be determined by local observations, for the 

 idea is incorrect that they should always blow perpendicularly to 

 the coast-line. Scarcely has one left the Java Sea — which is, as 

 it were, an inland sea between Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and the 

 archipelago of small islands between both of the last named — 

 than, in the blue waters of the easterly part of the East Indian 

 Archipelago, nature assumes a bolder aspect, more in harmony 

 with the great depth of the ocean. The beauty of the Java Sea, 

 and the delightful phenomena which air and ocean display, have 

 here ceased. The scene becomes more earnest. The coasts of 

 the eastern islands rise boldly out of the water, far in whose 

 depths they have planted their feet. The south-east wind, 

 which blows upon the southern coasts of the chain of islands, is 

 sometimes violent, always strong through the straits which sepa- 

 rate them from each other, and this appears to be more and more 

 the case as we go eastward. Here, also, upon the northern coast, 

 we find land breezes, yet the trade-wind often blows so violently 

 that they have not sufficient power to force it beyond the coast. 

 Owing to the obstruction Avhich the chain of islands presents to 

 the south-east trade-wind, it happens that it blows with violence 

 away over the mountains, apparently as the land breeze does 

 •upon the north coast;* yet this wind, which only rises when it 

 blows hard from the south-east upon the south coast, is easily 

 distinguished from the gentle land breeze. The regularity of 



♦ Such is the case, amonj^ otliers, in tlio Strait of Madura, upon the heights 

 of Bezoekio. 



