VOL. IV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 375 



grains, which it might well have lost on such accounts as have been above 

 mentioned. 



Observations in two Voyages to the East Indies. By Mr. Richard 



Smithson. N" 50, p. 1003. 



From England to Cape Finisterre in Gallicia, in 44° north lat. the winds are as 

 variable as with us in England ; only the Bay of Biscay is more subject to storms, 

 and the sea more rough, the waves running very high. From thence to 34° 

 the wind is variable also, but if within 100 leagues of the European con- 

 tinent, it is generally inclined to north-east. From 34 degrees, towards the 

 coast of Africa, or about the meridian of the Canaries, the wind is always about 

 the north-east. Yet in winter, on the coast of Africa there are sometimes 

 westerly storms that are violent, but of no long continuance. And in summer, 

 when it is sometimes calm, the air will come variably. These north-east winds 

 hold most commonly to 8 degrees north latitude, and then begin the tornado 

 winds, which are most part confined between 8 and 4 degrees north latitude. 

 They are seldom or never more southerly; but on this side the line they have 

 sometimes been met between 1 1 and 1 2 degrees north latitude, and sometimes 

 in 9 and 10 degrees. These tornadoes are uncertain winds, blowing from all 

 points of the compass in the same hour, and sometimes the wind shifts thus 

 without intermitting, and at other times it will be quite calm between every 

 blast. They are so irregular that if 4 or 5 ships sail together, as near as is 

 fitting for ships that keep company, at the same instant, very often, every ship 

 will have a several and contrary wind. This place is almost always infested with 

 dreadful thunders, lightnings and rain. And the nearer you are to the Afric 

 shore, so much more dreadful is the thunder and rain: but the further west- 

 ward you go, the thunder and rain is the less, and the winds not so uncertain ; 

 so that, if you go as far west as the meridian of the east-side of Brasil, there is 

 little thunder, neither does the wind come down in such puffs and flaws ; but 

 between 4 and 8 degrees it is most inclined to calms, with very great and thick 

 fogs, and the rains come not in such violent showers. This is a sure rule, that 

 near the African shore, and as far as 100 or 200 leagues west, the north-east 

 winds commonly incline more and more to the east; so that by the time you 

 come to the west of the meridian of the Azores about 20 degrees, the trade or 

 constant wind will be mostly east-north-east. Now as from 34 to 44 degrees 

 near the continent of Europe, the winds are commonly between east and north ; 

 so after you come as far west as the meridian of the hithermost of the Azores, 

 they are, commonly between south-west and north-west. And for this reason. 



