446 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



not yet reached by it, is as smooth and even as glass in comparison. In half an hour's 

 time after it has reached the shore, it fans pretty briskly, and so increaseth, gradually, till 

 twelve o'clock ; then it is commonly strongest, and lasts so till two or three a very brisk 

 gale ; about twelve at noon it also veers off to sea two or three points, or more in very 

 fair weather. After three o'clock, it begins to die away again, and gradually withdraws 

 its force till all is spent ; and about five o'clock, sooner or later, according as the weather 

 is, it is lulled asleep, and comes no more till the next morning. 



Land-breezes are as remarkable as any winds that I have yet treated of ; they are 

 quite contrary to the sea-breezes ; for those blow right from the shore, but the sea-breeze 

 right in upon the shore ; and as the sea-breezes do blow in the day and rest in the night, 

 so, on the contrary, these do blow in the night and rest in the day, and so they do 

 alternately succeed each other. For when the sea-breezes have performed their offices 

 of the day, by breathing on their respective coasts, they, in the evening, do either 

 withdraw from the coast, or lie down to rest. Then the land-winds, whose office it is 

 to breathe in the night, moved by the same order of divine impulse, do rouse out of 

 their private recesses, and gently fan the air till the next morning, and then their task 

 ends, and they leave the stage. There can be no proper time set when they do begin in 

 the evening, or when they retire in the morning, for they do not keep to an hour, but 

 they commonly spring up between six and twelve in the evening, and last till six, eight, 

 or ten in the morning. They both come and go away again earlier or later, according to 

 the weather, the season of the year, or some accidental cause from the land. For, on 

 some coasts, they do rise earlier, blow fresher, and remain later than on other coasts, as 

 I shall show hereafter. 



These winds blow off to sea, a greater or less distance, according as the coast lies 

 more or less exposed to the sea-winds ; for, in some places, we find them brisk three or 

 four leagues off shore ; in other places, not so many miles, and, in some places, they scarce 

 peep without the rocks ; or if they do sometimes, in very fair weather, make a sally out 

 a mile or two, they are not lasting, but suddenly vanish away, though yet, there are every 

 night as fresh land-winds ashore, at these places, as in any other part of the world. In 

 deed, these winds are an extraordinary blessing to those that use the sea in any part of 

 the world within the tropics; for as the constant trade- winds do blow, there could be no 

 sailing in these seas ; but by the help of the sea and land-breezes, ships will sail 200 or 

 300 leagues, as particularly from Jamaica to the Lagune of Trist, in the Bay of Campeachy, 

 and then back again, all against the trade-wind. The seamen that sail in sloops or other 

 small vessels in the West Indies do know very well when they shall meet a brisk land- 

 wind by the fogs that hang over the land before night ; for it is a certain sign of a good 

 land-wind to see a thick fog lie still and quiet, like smoke over the land, not stirring any 

 way ; and we look out for such signs when we are plying to windward. For if we see no 

 fog over the land, the land-wind will be but faint and short that night. These signs are to be 

 observed chiefly in fair weather ; for in the wet season fogs do hang over the land all the 

 day, and it may be neither land-wind nor sea-breeze stirring. If in the afternoon, also, 

 in fair weather, we see a tornado over the land, it commonly sends us forth a fresh 

 land-wind. These land-winds are very cold, and though the sea-breezes are always much 

 stronger, yet these are colder by far. The sea-breezes, indeed, are very comfortable and 

 refreshing ; for the hottest time in all the day is about nine, ten, or eleven o'clock in the 

 morning, in the interval between both breezes ; for then it is commonly calm, and then 

 people pant for breath, especially if it is late before the sea-breeze comes, but afterwards 

 the breeze allays the heat. However, in the evening again, after the sea-breeze is spent, 

 it is very hot till the land-wind springs up, which is sometimes not till twelve o'clock or 

 after." 



