MONSOONS. 379 



faces under the clouded skies,* impatiently trim tlie sails to the 

 changing winds. However, the atmosphere generally becomes 

 clear, and, contrary to expectation, the noith-east wind comes 

 from a clear sky ; about the coming of the monsoon it is northerly. 

 Now the clouds are again packed together ; the wind dies away, 

 but it will soon be waked up to come again from another point. 

 Finally, the regular land and sea breezes gradually replace rain, 

 and tempests, calms, and gentle gales. The rain holds up during 

 the day, and in the Java Sea we have the east monsoon. It is 

 then May. Farther to the south than the Java Sea the east mon- 

 soon commences in April.f This monsoon prevails till September 

 or October, when it turns to become the west monsoon. It has 

 seemed to me that the east monsoon does not blow the same in 

 every month, that its direction becomes more southerly, and its 

 power greater after it has prevailed for some time. J 



707. Currents. — " It is sufficiently important to fix the attention, 

 seeing that these circumstances have great influence upon the 

 winds in the many straits of the Archipelago, in which strong 

 currents run most of the time. Especially in the straits to the 

 east of Java these currents are very strong. I have been unable 

 to stem the current with eight-mile speed. However, they do 

 not always flow equally strong, nor always in the same direction. 

 They are probably the strongest when the tidal current and the 

 equatorial current meet together. It is said that the currents in 

 the straits during the east monsoon run eighteen hours to the 

 north and six hours to the south, and the reverse during the west 



equator more frequently than they do on the other ? I have cruised a great 

 deal on the southern hemisphere, and never saw a water-spout there. Accord- 

 ing to the log-books at the Observatory, they occur mostly on the north side 

 of the equator. — M. 



* At sea the face and hands bum (change the skin) much quicker under a 

 clouded than under a clear sky.— Jansen. 



t In the north-east part of the Archipelago the east monsoon is the rainy 

 monsoon. The phenomena in the north-east part are thus wholly diflferent 

 from those in the Java Sea. — Jansen. 



X As is well known, the Strait of Soerabaya forms an elbow whose easterly 

 outlet opens to the east, while the westerly outlet opens to the north. In the 

 beginning of the east monsoon the sea wind (east monsoon) blows througli the 

 westerly entrance as far as Grissee (in the elbow) ; in the latter part of this 

 monsoon, the sea-wind blows, ou the contrary, through the easterly entrance 

 as far as Sambilangan (the narrow passage where the westerly outlet opens into 

 the sea). — Jansen. 



