48 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



once it was found that northward of a certain parallel 

 the steady north-east wind did not exist, but instead 

 there was a region where variable winds, variable both 

 in force and in direction, but prevalently west, or 

 directly favourable to return, the great trade route was 

 established, the whole vast commerce of the western 

 continent was opened up, and a steady chain of vessels 

 began to pass between the two worlds, as they were 

 then thought to be, binding them into one. Still, it 

 was only a beginning, and much remained to be done 

 before the wonderful wind system of the Atlantic ever 

 began to be understood. Besides, it was a leisurely 

 age hurried, perhaps, in comparison with that of 

 the pyramid builders, but, compared with ours, how 

 sedate and stately in its progress from the twilight of 

 discovery to the glaring sunlight of full knowledge. 

 For instance, how great must have been the consterna- 

 tion of the bold Spanish mariner who first discovered 

 that below a certain parallel of latitude the steady 

 north-east wind, upon which he had been taught to 

 rely, failed, disappeared, and was succeeded by calms 

 and light airs blowing from every quarter of the com- 

 pass, heavy blinding rains and waterspouts. Slow as 

 the progress of those old clumsy craft was at the best 

 of times and under the most favourable conditions, it 

 now seemed as if escape from this bewildering environ- 

 ment of stagnation must be impossible. The sufferers 

 could not know that they had entered the indeter- 

 minate region between the two trades, the belt of 

 equatorial calms, known so well to later generations 

 of seamen as the "doldrums," a place of dread, yet 

 to be passed by the constant exercise of watchful sea- 

 manship and the taking advantage of every slant, 



