644 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA. 



is no safe guide but the constant use of the deep sea lead, with a chart 

 containing correct soundings. 



The fogs, which accompany easterly gales, extend high up into the 

 atmosphere, and cannot be looked over from any part of the rigging 

 of a ship. They, however, are not so thick as those which occur in 

 calms after a strong wind, and which are frequently so dense as to 

 conceal a vessel within hail ; whilst the former often, but not always, 

 admit the land, or other objects, to be distinguished at the distance 

 of half a mile or more in the day time. 



The dense fogs which occur in calms, or even in very light winds, 

 often extend only to small elevations above the sea; so that it some- 

 times happens, that when objects are hidden at the distance of 50 

 yards from the deck, they can be plainly seen by a person 50 or 60 

 feet up the rigging. In the months of October and November the 

 fogs and rain that accompany easterly gales are replaced by thick 

 snow, which causes equal embarrassment to the navigator. 



Winds. The prevailing winds during the navigable season are 

 either directly up or directly down the estuary, following the course 

 of the chains of high lands on either side of the great valley of the 

 St. Lawrence. Thus a S. E. wind in the gulf becomes E. S. E. be- 

 tween Anticosti and the south coast, E. N. E. above Point de Monts, 

 and N. E. above Green Island. The westerly winds do not appear to 

 be so much guided in direction by the high lands, excepting along the 

 south coast, where we have observed a W. S. W. wind at the island 

 of Bic becomes W., W. N. W., and N. W., as we ran down along the 

 high and curved south coast, until it .became a N. N. W. wind at Cape 

 Gaspe. These winds frequently blow strong for three or four days 

 in succession; the westerly winds being almost always accompanied 

 with fine, dry, clear and sunny weather; the easterly winds as fre- 

 quently the contrary, cold, wet, and foggy. In the spring the east- 

 erly winds most prevail, frequently blowing for several weeks in suc- 

 cession. As the summer advances, the westerly winds become more 

 frequent, and the S. W. wind may be said to be the prevailing wind 

 in summer in all parts of the river and gulf. Light south winds 

 take place occasionally ; but north winds are not common in summer, 

 although they sometimes occur. Steady N. W. winds do not blow 

 frequently before September, excepting for a few hours at a time, 

 when they generally succeed easterly winds which have died away to 

 a calm, forming the commencement of strong winds, arid usually 

 veering to the S. W. The N. W. wind is dry, with bright clear sky, 

 flying clouds, and showers. After the autumnal equinox, winds to 

 the northward of west become more common, and are then often 

 strong steady winds of considerable duration. In the months of Oc- 

 tober and November the N. W. wind frequently blows with great vio- 

 lence in heavy squalls, with passing showers of hail and snow, and 

 attended with sharp frost. 



Thunder storms are not uncommon in July and August; they sel- 

 dom last above an hour or two; but the wind proceeding from them 

 is in general violent and sudden, particularly when near the moun- 

 tainous part of the coast, sail should, therefore, be fully and quickly 

 reduced on their approach. 



Strong winds seldom veer quickly from one quarter of the compass 

 to another directly or nearly contrary : in general they die away by 

 degrees to a calm, and are succeeded by a wind in the opposite direction. 



