832 HISTORY OF 



able months for embarking for the East- Indies, in order to take 

 the benefit of these winds, for crossing the Line : and it has 

 been often found by experience, that those who had set sail five 

 months before, were not in the least farther advanced in their 

 \'oyage, than those who waited for the favourable wind. Diirin"' 

 the winter, off Nova Zembla, and the other arctic countries, a 

 north wind reigns almost continually. Li the Cape de Verd 

 islands, a south wind prevails during the month of July. At 

 the Cape of Good Hope, a north-west wind blows during the 

 month of September. There are also regular winds, produced 

 by various causes, upon land. The ancient Greeks were tlie 

 first who observed a constant breeze, produced by the melting o*' 

 the snows, in some high neighbouring countries. This was per- 

 ceived in Greece, Thrace, Macedonia, and the ^gean sea. 

 The same kind of winds are now remarked in the kingdom of 

 Congo, and the most southern parts of Africa. The flux and 

 reflux of the sea also produces some regular winds, that serve 

 the purposes of trade ; and, in general, it may be obsen'ed, that 

 wherever there is a strong current of water, there is a current of 

 air that seems to attend it. 



Besides these winds that are found to blow in one direction, 

 there are, as was said before, others that blow for certain months 

 of the year one way, and the rest of the year the contrary way ; 

 these are called the Monsoons, from a famous pilot of that name, 

 who first used them in navigation with success.* In all that 



• Varenii Geographia Generalis, cap. 20. The term Monsoon is other- 

 wise derived from moussin, a Malay word, sigrnifying " season." It is 

 in tlie Indian Ocean alone that the famous monsoons, or half yearly 

 winds, seem to destroy the uniformity of the general atmospheric movement. 

 No doulit, however, they might be made to accord with it, provided we knew 

 all the circumstances which influence them. We exhibit the facts in the 

 first place. From the 10th degree of south latitude to the tropic of Capricorn, 

 and beyond it, the general east or south-east trade wind prevails over all 

 the Indian Ocean, sometimes in summer extending as far as the 2d aud 3d 

 degrees of south latitude. On this side the 10th degree, we first meet with the 

 monsoons or periodical half yearly winds. North of the equator, from April 

 to October, a violent south-vwst wind prevails, accompanied with tempests, 

 storms, and rain ; while a soft and pleasant north-east wind blows during the 

 other six months. Between the second and twelfth parallels of south lati- 

 tude, the winds blow generally from JwriA-uferfduring the winter six months, 

 from south-west in summer. 



During winter, then, the constitution of the atmosphere exhibits the follow, 

 iiif principal circumstances : North-east winds north of the line ; north- weat 



