64 NATURAL HISTORY. 



tlfan in plains. The mountains not only alter the di- 

 rection of winds, but they even produce winds, which 

 are either constant or variable according to different 

 causes. The melting of the snow, which is upon the 

 mountains, generally produces constant winds, which 

 sometimes remain very long. The vapours which 

 are stopped by mountains, and which accumulate upon 

 them, produce variable winds, very frequent in all 

 climates. In the straits, on all the projecting coasts, 

 at the extremity and in the environs of all pro- 

 montories, peninsulas, and capes, and in all narrow 

 gulphs, storms are frequent. But independent of 

 these circumstances some seas are much more tempes- 

 tuous than others. The Indian ocean, the Japan Sea, 

 the Magellanic Sea, that of the African coast beyond 

 the Canaries, and on the other side towards the coun- 

 try of Natolia, the Red Sea, &c. are very subject to 

 storms. The Atlantic ocean is more stormy than the 

 ocean, which from its tranquillity, is called the Pac[fic. 

 This ocean, however, is not absolutely tranquil, except 

 between the tropics, and about the temperate zones ; 

 and the more we approach the poles, the more we 'are 

 subject to variable winds, whose sudden change often 

 occasions tempests. 



All continents are subject to variable winds, which 

 often produce singular effects. In the kingdom of Cas- 

 simir, which is surrounded by the mountains of Cau- 

 casus, a very sudden reverse of seasons is felt on 

 mount Pirepenjale. In less than an hour's journey 

 on it we pass from summer to winter. A north and 

 a south wind, according to Bernier, blow perceptibly 

 within 200 paces of one another. In the peninsula 

 . of India, which is traversed from north to south by 

 the mountains of Gate, the extreme heats of summer 



