TRADE-WINDS OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 357 



Arrived at this point, another view in the field of conjecture is 

 presented, which it is proper we should pause to consider. 



1008. The movements of the atmosphere on the polar side of 

 40° N. are, let it be repeated, bj no means so constant from the 

 west, nor is the strength of the westerly winds there nearly so 

 great on the average as it is in the extra-tropical regions of the 

 south. This fact is well known among mariners. Every one 

 who has sailed in that southern girdle of waters which belt the 

 earth, on the polar side of 40°, has been struck with the force and 

 trade-like regularity of the westerly winds which prevail there. 

 The waves driven before these winds assume in their regularity 

 of form, in the magnitude of their proportions, and in the stateli- 

 ness of their march, an aspect of majestic grandeur that the bil- 

 lows of the sea never attain elsewhere. 



No such waves are found in the trade-winds, for, though the S.E. 

 trades are quite as constant, yet they have not the force to pile the 

 water in such heaps, nor to arrange the waves so orderly, nor to 

 drive them so rapidly as those " brave" winds do. There the bil- 

 lows, following each other with measured tread, look, with their 

 rounded crests and deep hollows, more like mountains rolling over 

 a plain than the waves which we are accustomed to see. 



Many days of constant blowing over a wide expanse of ocean 

 are required to get up such waves. It is these winds and waves 

 which, on the voyage to and from Australia, have enabled the 

 modern clipper-ship to attain a speed, and, day after day, to ac- 

 complish runs which at first were considered, even by the nauti- 

 cal world, as fabulous, and are yet regarded by all with wonder 

 and admiration. 



Seeing, therefore, that we can bring in such a variety of facts 

 and circumstances, all tending to show that the S.E. trade-winds 

 are stronger than the IST.E., and that the westerly winds which pre- 

 vail on the polar side of 40° S. are stronger and more constant 

 than their antoecian fellows of the north, we may consider it as 

 an established fact that the general system of atmospherical circu- 

 lation is more active in the southern than it is in the northern 

 hemisphere. And, seeing that it blows with more strength and 

 regularity from the west in the extra-tropical regions of the south- 

 ern than it does in the extra-tropical regions of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, we should deduce, by way of corollary, that the counter- 



