THE WINDS OF THE OCEAN 57 



is the great waterspout field, and one may vainly 

 speculate as to how many thousands of tons of pure 

 fresh water may be seen in one day drawn and trans- 

 mitted from the broad bitter bosom of the ocean to 

 be carried away far from the sea and replenish the 

 springs which feed the rivers of the world and make it 

 habitable. Of all the uses of the sea to mankind, and 

 they are many, I suppose there can be none greater 

 than this, and yet it is an aspect of ocean that very 

 few people give a second thought to; they seem to 

 take for granted the existence of some subterranean 

 machinery for the production of fresh water and the 

 filling of the ever-flowing rivers. It is so easy to 

 forget how during a dry season, which will probably 

 coincide with the more than usually close approxima- 

 tion of the Trade Winds to each other, the great rivers 

 will show an almost alarming diminution of their 

 waters, small rivers will run dry altogether, and wells 

 will cease to supply water. 



Nowhere in all the oceans is there to be found so 

 pleasant and placid a region as that which lies between 

 Africa and America south of the line. Within that 

 vast space, bounded on the south by a fairly well- 

 defined line drawn from east to west in about 25 

 degrees south, storms are unknown. The steady gentle 

 circulation of the atmosphere here apparently needs 

 no such violent stirrings up as are fairly common in 

 other oceans, and at all seasons of the year it may be 

 safely navigated in a small boat. It is a striking 

 proof of the non-maritime character of the inhabitants 

 of the West Coast of South Africa, that none of them 

 in past ages found their way to the American continent, 

 so easy and smooth is the passage ; at any rate, no 



