THE WINDS OF THE OCEAN 65 



Ocean, it is fairly regular and reliable over most of 

 that ocean between its contracted boundaries, only 

 here it is far more under the influence of the seasons 

 than elsewhere; in fact, it is so encroached upon 

 between October and March from the north that it 

 hardly reaches northward farther than 10 S., whereas 

 in the Atlantic it nearly always extends to the 

 equator, and very often well to the northward of it. 

 Between these seasonal limits, also, its even flow is 

 exceedingly disturbed at irregular intervals by those 

 awful storms known as cyclones or hurricanes, which 

 are more prevalent here than in any other quarter of 

 the world. This fact is quite sufficient to give the 

 passage across the Indian Ocean an unenviable repu- 

 tation among seamen, and to make them feel more 

 than ordinarily anxious when obliged to be in it 

 at any time between the months mentioned; for, 

 although, owing to the unwearied labours of modern 

 meteorologists, the laws governing these terrible 

 visitations have been accurately tabulated and minute 

 directions given to the seamen how to beware of their 

 approach, how to avoid them, and how to behave when 

 overtaken by them, certain complications are always 

 liable to occur which confound the most careful 

 calculations, and seem to falsify all the instructions 

 given. 



I must just digress for a moment, and apologize 

 for not having given more space to this subject of 

 hurricanes when dealing with the North Atlantic, where 

 about the West Indies these destructive storms may 

 be expected in any of the three months, August 

 October. But there, as will be seen, their area is 

 exceedingly circumscribed ; also, their period is brief, 



F 



