273 ruYsicAL geogkm'uy of the sea, and its meteorology. 



You feel a degree of lassitude unconquerable, Avliicli not even 

 the sea-bathing, which everywhere else proves so salutary and 

 renovating, can dispel. Except when in actual danger of ship- 

 wreck, I never spent twelve more disagreeable days in the pro- 

 fessional part of my life than in these calm latitudes. I crossed 

 the line on the 17th of January, at eight a.m., in longitude 2i° 20', 

 and soon found I had surmounted all the difficulties consequent 

 to that event ; that the breeze continued to freshen and draw- 

 round to the south-south-east, bringing with it a clear sky and 

 most heavenly temperature, renovating and refreshing beyond 

 description. Nothing was now to be seen but cheerful counte- 

 nances, exchanged as by enchantment from that sleepy sluggish- 

 ness which had bonie us all down for the last two weeks." 



516. Subjects which at sea p-esent themselves for contemplation. — 

 One need not go to sea to perceive the grand work which the 

 clouds peiform in collecting moisture from the crystal vaults of 

 the sky, in sprinkling it upon the fields, and making the hills 

 glad with showers of rain. Winter and summer, " the clouds 

 drop fatness upon the earth." This part of their office is obvious 

 to all, and I do not propose to consider it now. But the sailor 

 at sea observes phenomena and witnesses operations in the 

 terrestrial economy which tell him that, in the beautiful and 

 exquisite adjustments of the grand machinery of the atmosphere, 

 the clouds have other important offices to perform besides those 

 merely of dispensing showers, of producing the rains, and of 

 weaving mantles of snow for the protection of our fields in 

 winter. As important as are these offices, the philosophical 

 mariner, as he changes his sky, is reminded that the clouds 

 have commandments to fulfil, which, though less obvious, are 

 not therefore the less benign in their influences, or the less 

 worthy of his notice. He beholds them at work in moderating 

 the extremes of heat and cold, and in mitigating climates. At 

 one time they spread themselves out ; they cover the earth as 

 with a mantle ; they prevent radiation from its crust, and keep 

 it warm. At another time tliey interpose between it and the 

 sun ; they screen it from his scorching rays, and protect the tender 

 plants from his heat, the land from the drought ; or, like a gar- 

 ment, they overshadow the sea, defending its waters from the 

 intense forces of evaporation. Having performed these offices 

 for one place, they are evaporated and given up to the sunbeam 

 and the winds again, to be borne on their wings away to other 



