OVALLF/S HISTORICAL RELATION OF CHILE. 6$ 



pefts and ftorms at fea, and makes all the land dark and fad : the fouth, on the contrary, 

 clears the fky, ferenes the air, and makes the fea as calm as milk : on the contrary, 

 this fame fouth wind, in the north fea, is ftormy, and covers the heavens with clouds, 

 and raifes thofe tempefts, which do fo endanger fhips ; whereas the north, called there 

 Tramontane, clears all again, and makes the fine days. 



From hence proceeds, that in America the fouth wind reigns in fummer, when the 

 fea is calm, and the north in winter, when it is tempeftuous : the north does moft 

 certainly bring with it the rains, particularly from thirty-fix degrees to the pole, and 

 that fo fuddenly, that fometimes, in the moment the wind comes to the north, the rain 

 falls, and moft commonly it is within half an hour after its change ; and when in thofe 

 parts in winter the fun is clear, and the weather fair, it is when the fouth wind over- 

 powers the north j for the fouth in thofe parts is cold and dry, and fo drives away 

 the clouds, fo as it happens fometimes that the heavens are dark ; and as foon as the 

 clouds are difcharged, if the fouth appears a little the ftronger, it is an infallible fign 

 of calm weather, which generally follows in a trice ; for this wind drives all the clouds 

 fo before it, that when it blows, it does not leave one in the Iky. 



The contrary of this is feen in Europe, where the fouth winds bring humidity, and 

 the north drives it away : the fouth relaxes the body, and aflFeds the head ; but the 

 north ftrengthens the body, purifies the air, and dries up fuperfluous humours. In 

 Ihort, thefe two winds caufe quite different effedts in Europe and America, that we 

 may call the Europeans fons of the north, and thofe of South America children ~of the 

 fouth. 



From this there follows another very notable and well-known difference, which is, 

 that as to go from Europe to the Indies, the north is the proper wind, and carries us 

 before it, and by confequence is contrary to our return ; fo in the South-Sea, failing 

 from the pole towards thefe parts, the fouth is the favourable wind, and contrary to 

 our return : from whence it proceeds, that the voyage from Spain to Carthagena being 

 by the North-Sea, and made in thirty, forty, and fifty days, the return to Spain ufes to 

 laft fourfcore, and a hundred, and more days. On the contrary, in the South-Sea, 

 where the voyage from Chile to Lima is but of about a fortnight, and as much more 

 to Panama, or thereabouts, the return only to Lima is of two months, and from thence 

 to Chile forty days. The South-Sea is alfo called the Pacifick-Sea, to diftinguifh it 

 from the North-Sea, whofe ftorms and tempefts are fo frequent ; whereas in the South- 

 Sea they are rare : but, in my opinion the difference is for another reafon, which I fhall 

 alledge here. 



The moft frequent navigations of the South-Sea are from Peru to Panama, and from 

 thence to New Spain and the Philippinas ; and thofe from Peru to Chile are lefs ufed : by 

 which it appears, that the beft part of the South-Sea navigations are between the 

 tropicks ; and fo the fun has fo much force, as to keep the winds from being furious^ 

 and making fuch lafting ftorms as thofe which are raifed without the tropicks, and in 

 parts nearer the pole ; for this reafon the failors, in thefe warm climates, where there 

 never is any winter, called this fea the Pacifick-Sea, from the good effects they ex- 

 perienced in it. The contrary of this is in the North-Sea, where moft of the naviga- 

 tions are out of the tropicks ; where the fun having lefs force, the winter predominates, 

 and raifes mighty ftorms. Now the Europeans who firft navigated the South- Sea, being 

 fuch as were ufed to thofe dangers, to which the navigators of the northern parts are 

 moft commonly expofed, when they found fo quiet a fea as that under the line, and in 

 thofe which particularly are the feat of commerce with New Spain, Panama, and Peru, 

 they gave it the name of the Pacifick, without examining any further the caufe of the dif- 



9 ference 



