SEA ROUTES, CALM BELTS, AND VAKIABLE WINDS. 361 



wind region make the sunset so enchanting. The dark-blue 

 water, in which many and strange kinds of echinas sport in tlie 

 sunlight, and, when seen at a distance, make the sea appear like 

 one vast field adorned with flowers ; the regular swellings of the 

 waves with their silvery foam, through which the flying-fishes 

 flutter ; the beautifully-coloured dolphins ; the diving schools of 

 tunnies — all these banish afar the monotony of the sea,* awake 

 the love of life in the youthful seaman, and attune his heart to 

 goodness. Everything around him fixes his attention and in- 

 creases his astonishment. 



075. Sailing through the trade-wind. — " If all the breathings out 

 of heartfelt emotion which the contemplation of nature forces 

 from the sailor were recorded in the log-books, how much farther 

 should we be advanced in the knowledge of the natural state of 

 the sea ! Once wandering over the ocean, he begins to be im- 

 pressed by the grand natural tableau around him with feelings 

 deep and abiding. The most splendid forecastle is lost in the 

 viewless surface, and brings home to us the knowledge of our 

 nothingness ; the greatest ship is a plaything for the billows, and 

 the slender keel seems to threaten our existence every moment. 

 But when the e^^e of the mind is peimitted to wander through 

 space and into the depths of the ocean, and is able to form a 

 conception of Infinity and of Omnipotence, then it knows no 

 danger ; it is elevated — it comprehends itself. The distances of 

 the heavenly bodies are correctly estimated ; and, enlightened by 

 astronomy, with the aid of the art of navigation, of which Maury's 

 Wind and Current Charts form an important part, the shipmaster 

 marks out his way over the ocean just as securely as any one can 

 over an extended heath. He directs his course towards the Cape 

 Verd Islands, and is carried there by the lively trade-wind. Yet 

 beyond the islands, sooner or later, according to the month, the 

 clear skies begin to be clouded, the trade- wind abates and 

 becomes unsteady, the clouds heap up, the thunder is heard, 

 heavy rains fall ; finally, the stillness is death-like, and we have 

 entered tbe belt of calms. This belt moves towards the north 

 from May to September. It is a remarkable phenomenon that 

 the annual movements of the trades and calm belts from south to 

 north, and back again, do not directly follow the sun in its 



* Wlien we, as our forefathers did, preserve in the journals all that we observe 

 at sea, then we shall have abundant material with which to keep ourselves 

 I)leasantly occupied. 



