72 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



hardly less violence than that with which it first 

 greeted India. 



It must, however, be noted that this rough quality 

 of the south-west monsoon, so unlike the gentle steady 

 character of its parent, the South-East Trade Wind, is 

 not maintained for any length of time. Having 

 " burst " upon the Indian continent in fury, it soon 

 settles down and becomes more sedate, although the 

 " dirty " that is, the rainy and squally character 

 of its weather persists more or less all through 

 the season. As regards its direction, although it 

 is called south-west, that being the general quarter 

 from which it blows, it must be remembered that it 

 is subject to many local divergences, more especially 

 when it strikes the East Indian Archipelago, with its 

 high mountain ranges lying at different angles to each 

 other, and all having a modifying effect upon the 

 prevailing winds. This, I think, will be fairly well 

 understood because of previous references to the effect 

 upon the wind of intervening land. 



And now it is time to enter the greatest of all the 

 oceans, the vast Pacific, of far greater area than the 

 Atlantic and Indian Oceans lumped together, a water 

 space wherein might be dumped all the visible dry 

 land of the globe and no trace of it remain. The 

 islands which punctuate this mighty ocean can have 

 no appreciable effect upon its winds, for with but few 

 exceptions they are very low, just cays crowning coral 

 reefs, atolls with occasional evidences of volcanic 

 agency raising their enclosed islands higher than 

 usual above the sea-level. But first a word or two as 

 to the general character of the winds over this vast 

 water space. Surely never was an epithet less deserved 



