THE CLOUD REGION, ETC. 271 



the sui-face of tlie globe. These fogless regions, though ceitain 

 parts of them are not unfrequently visited by tempests, tornadoes, 

 and hurricanes, are nevertheless much less frequented by gales of 

 vind, as all furious winds are called, than are the regions on the 

 polar side of these two parallels. 



503. The most stormy latitudes. — Taking the Atlantic Ocean, 

 north and south, as an index of what takes place on other waters, 

 ihe abstract logs of the Observatory show, according to the 

 records of 205,304 observing days contained therein, that for 

 every gale of wind that seamen encounter on the equatorial side 

 of these two parallels of 30° K. and S., they encounter 10.4 on 

 the polar side ; and that for every fog on the equatorial they en- 

 counter 83 on the polar side. As a rule, fogs and gales increase 

 both in numbers and frequency as yoTi I'ccede from the equator. 

 The frequency of these phenomena between the parallels of 5^ X. 

 and 5° S., compared with their frequency between the parallels of 

 45° and 50° N. and S., is as 1 to 103 for gales, and as 1 to 102 for 

 fogs. The observations do not extend beyond the parallels of 

 60°. It appears from these, however, that both the most stormy 

 and foggy latitudes in the North Atlantic are between the 

 parallels of 45° and 50° ; that in the South Atlantic the most 

 stormy latitudes are between the parallels of 55° and 60°, the 

 most foggy between 50° and 55°. 



504. Influences of the Gulf Stream and the ice-hearing currents of 

 the south. — How suggestively do these two groups of phenomena 

 remind us, on the one hand, of the Gulf Stream and the ice- 

 bearing currents of the north, and, on the other, of Cape Sorn 

 and the Antarctic icebergs which ' cluster off the Falkland 

 Islands I * 



505. Sea fogs rare within 20° of the equator — red fogs. — Thouo-h 

 sea fogs within 20° on either side of the equator are so rarely 

 seen, yet within this distance, on the north side, red fogs of " sea- 

 dust" (§ 322) are not imfrequently encountered by navigators. 

 These can scarcely be considered as coming within the category 



* Captain Clmdwick reports, by letter of 30th April, 1860, an iceberg, seen 

 first by him 14th Septemter, 1859, in S. lat. 52^ 25', long. 51° 8' W. : next, on 

 October 10th, in 47° 15' S., 59° 30' W., by the Wild Pigeon. Five days 

 later he fell in with it in lat. 45° 40', long. 58° 40'. It was last seen 7th 

 November, in lat. 43^ 44' S., long. 57° 14' W., by the Britisli sliip " City of 

 Candy." Whether this were the same " berg " or not, it shows that icebergs 

 are not imknown to the north of the Falkland Islands, as, indeed, the aqueous 

 isotherm of 60°, Plate IV., indicates by its sharp c\\i\c about those ialands. 



