80 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



Not that I ani at all forgetful of the claims of British 

 Columbia, which in summer is beautiful beyond belief. 

 Moreover, although it does not strictly come within 

 the purview of the ocean winds, we must remember 

 that by some wonderful law of compensation even 

 the bitter blasts of winter raging in from the North 

 Pacific are robbed of their severity by the intervening 

 range of the Kocky Mountains, and descend upon the 

 fertile plains of Manitoba in mild beneficence, making 

 that favourite portion of British territory far more 

 habitable than the bitter wastes of Arizona and 

 Dakota, far to the southward of them. 



This hurried and entirely incomplete survey of 

 the wind systems of the world may here be brought 

 to a close, because to deal with it more closely would 

 be encroaching upon another question of great im- 

 portance, viz. the effect upon the world of the ocean 

 in the matter of health, and the all-important part 

 that the winds play in the dissemination of that 

 incalculable blessing to the teeming population. But 

 I think it will be readily understood how inextricably 

 interwoven all the phenomena of the sea are in their 

 effects upon the world at large, so that it is not 

 possible to treat one portion without mentioning the 

 other. It must also be borne in mind that although 

 the navigator can never be entirely independent of 

 the wind, whatever be the mechanical power of his 

 ship, the direction and force of the winds are to-day 

 of far less importance to the trade of the world than 

 they were before the advent of steam, when the passage 

 of ships from one part of the world to the other was 

 entirely dependent upon the wind for its success. 

 Then the prime qualification for a successful seaman 



