THE EARTH. 229 



bns never been out of our variable latitudes, than this steady 

 wind, that for ever sits in the sail, sending the vessel forward ; 

 and as effectually preventing its return. He who has been . 

 taught to consider that nothing in the world is so variable as the 

 winds, must certainl)' be surprised to find a place where there is 

 nothing more uniform. With us their inconstancy has become 

 a proverb ; with the natives of those distant climates they may 

 talk of a friend or a mistress as fixed and unchangeable as the 

 winds, and mean a compliment by the comparison. AV^heii our 

 ships are once arrived into the proper latitudes of the great 

 Pacific ocean, the mariner forgets the helm, and his skill becomes 

 almost useless : neither storms nor tempests are known to de- 

 form the glassy bosom of that immense sheet of waters ; a gentle 

 breeze, that for ever blows in the same direction, rests upon the 

 canvas, and speeds the navngator. In the space of six weeks, 

 ships are thus knowTi to cross an immense ocean, that takes 

 more than so many months to return. Upon returning, the 

 trade-wind, which has been propitious, is then avoided ; the 

 mariner is generally obliged to steer into the northern latitudes, 

 and to take the advantage of every casual wind that offers, to 

 assist him into port. This wind, which blows with such con- 

 stancy one way, is known to prevail not only in the Pacific ocean, 

 but also in the Atlantic, between the coasts of Guinea and 

 Brazil ; and, likewise, in the iEthiopic ocean. This seems to 

 be the great universal wind, blowing from the east to the west, 

 that prevails in all the extensive oceans, where the land does not 

 frequently break the general current. Were the whole surface 

 of the globe an ocean, there would probably be but this one wind, 

 for ever blowing from the east, and pursuing the motions of the 

 sun westward. All the other winds seem subordinate to this ; 

 and many of them are made from the de\dations of its cuiTent. 

 To form, therefore, any conception I'elative to the variations 

 of the wind in general, it is proper to begin with that which 

 never varies. 



There have been many theories to explain this invariable mo- 

 tion of the winds ; among the rest we cannot omit that of Dr 

 Lyster, for its strangeness. " The sea," says he, " in those 

 latitudes, is generally covered over with green weeds, for a great 

 extent; and the air produced from the vegetable peispiration of 

 these, produces the trade- wind." The theory of Cartesius was 



