PASSAGE FROM THE CAPE TO INDU. 359 



quite certain that ships in the present day make quicker 

 passages to and from India than formerly. Among other 

 reasons may be adduced the rehance which is now placed 

 upon the marine barometer : it enables an attentive observer 

 of its motions to carry as much sail at night as in the day. 

 Before this admirable instrument came into common use, 

 it was customary to reef every night. Captain Meriton, an 

 excellent officer, while in command of the honourable com- 

 pany's ship Exeter, used to take two reefs in every night at 

 sunset.* 



At all seasons of the year the three following points 

 ought to be carefully considered by navigators who are 

 anxious to make a quick passage from the Cape to any part 

 of India : — 



First, What are the limits of the south-east trade, and 

 what is the usual direction from which it blows at the pe- 

 riod when the ship is likely to enter it ] 



Secondly, What is the jirobable limit and direction of the 

 line monsoon at the time ? 



Thirdly, Is the north-east or south-west monsoon pre- 

 vailing to the northward of the usual limit of the line mon- 

 soon! 



These are essential particulars in the navigation of the 

 Indian seas, and a due attention to them is earnestly re- 

 commended. 



Ships bound for Ceylon while the south-west monsoon is 

 prevailing to the northward of the line, having proceeded 

 by Boscawen's or the Middle Passage, may pass through 

 the South, Equatorial, or One-and-a-half Degrees Channel. 

 Along the south side of Ceylon westerly winds prevail 

 nearly eight months in the year, and westerly currents are 

 also frequent, particularly in October and November, and 

 they run with considerable velocity. It may not be out of ^ 

 place to observ'e that a westerly wind and a westerly cur- 

 rent, according to nautical phraseology, run in opposite di- 



* This reminds one of the tardy proceedings of Dirk Hudson, one of 

 the early discoverers of North America, who used to heave-to every 

 night ; by which sage proceeding he gained a whole night's sleep, — 

 never ran over, anybody in the night,— and always knew where ho 

 ■was in the morning. It is further related of this ancient mariner, that 

 he nearly created a mutiny in the Goede Frau of Amsterdam, by inter- 

 dicting his jolly tars from going aloft with more than six pair of breecbea 

 OD, or from reefing topsails with pipes in their mouths. 



