THE WINDS OF THE OCEAN 61 



that an earnest skipper, fall of confidence in his ship, 

 and eager to make a rapid passage, has gone too far 

 south, not being content with the strength of the 

 wind he had, and found the wind so strong that he 

 could not carry sail to it, or carrying the sail to it has 

 lost his masts, and with them all chance of his making 

 a rapid passage. On the other hand, a too prudent 

 skipper has kept too far to the northward, and found 

 the westerlies so light and variable that his ship could 

 not do herself justice, and he too lost his passage. 

 And, in any case, it is a truly marvellous thing that, 

 in this vast landless region, there should be so steady 

 and strong a wind available to carry a ship swiftly 

 round the world ; for as the journey is from America 

 to Australia eastward, so is the passage from Aus- 

 tralia to America, still eastward, thrust on that 

 tremendous ocean journey by the strenuous westerly 

 wind. This, however, is carrying us too far for the 

 present, because the great Indian Ocean comes next 

 for consideration, with its wind systems scarcely less 

 complicated than are those of its currents. Still, 

 before leaving the question of the great westerlies 

 for a time, let us be clearly understood that, in spite 

 of what has been said of their persistence and regu- 

 larity, they do not at all compare with the Trade 

 Winds in the steadiness of flow characterizing the 

 latter. They obey the law of storms and perform 

 the usual revolutions about an advancing axis, albeit 

 their area is so tremendous and their lateral progress 

 so slow, that it often seems to the navigator as if they 

 were blowing steadily in one direction for a week or 

 more at a time, especially if his speed is nearly equal 

 to theirs. 



