476 PASSAGES OVEK THE ATLANTIC. 



information is more reliable than that afforded by Captain Maury, not 

 only by reason of the larger number of the observations from which they 

 are compiled, but also because of the greater accuracy of the observations, 

 all having been made with instruments tested and owned by the Meteoro- 

 logical Office. The period over which the observations extend is mainly 

 between the years 1855 and 1870. They were nearly all collected and 

 arranged by the late Admiral FitzRoy from British ships of the Mercantile 

 Marine. 



Captain Toynbco (in the introductory remarks to the latter of the two 

 works mentioned in the note on the preceding page) says : — " The part of 

 the sea with which we are about to deal is of the greatest importance to 

 the navigator, as it contains the much dreaded Doldrums, through which 

 every ship bound to the Southward of the Equator must pass; and it is no 

 uncommon thing for sailing ships to lose a fortnight, or even three weeks, 

 through taking a wrong route for the month." 



In treating, therefore, of the third portion of this subject, or that which 

 relates to the passage from Madeira to and across the Equator, we shall 

 in the first place give Captain Toynbee's remarks, and afterwards such in- 

 formation from former editions of this work as may be thought worthy of 

 the sailor's perusal. 



Referejice should be made to the Diagrams accompanying this Section, 

 page 475 ; these are chiefly drawn up from those issued by the United 

 States Hydrographic Office, which are founded on averages of a great 

 number of observations. The routes recommended by Maury and the 

 earlier hydrographers are also marked on them, for easy reference and 

 comparison. 



For Steam-ships, the Great Circle route from the Lizard to Cape Horn is 

 probably nearly the best that could be followed, even if it were not the 

 mathematical course. It passes near to the West end of Madeira and the 

 Cape Verde Islands, as directed for sailing ships, and then crosses the 

 Equator in longitude 31f° W. It almost touches Pernambuco, and passes 

 close to Rio de Janeiro towards the Strait of Le Maire, the total distance 

 being 6,988|- miles. 



Again, the Great Circle route from New York to the Cape of Good Hope 

 is a good route for steam-ships out or home. It cuts the Equator in 22° W., 

 passing through Ascension and just Westward of St. Helena, the distance 

 being 6,877 miles. 



To steam-vessels there will be no difficulty in following either of these 

 nearest routes, and they will only be modified in sailing vessels by the force 

 of the Trade Winds, which will make the course through the Trades more 

 Southerly than the Great Circle, in going Southward. 



Although a voyage round either of the great Capes — the Cape of Good 

 Hope or Cape Horn — involves a more extended problem than that ot the 

 passage over the North Atlantic Ocean, with which this book especially 

 deals, yet the difficulties and all phenomena which regulate the whole 

 voyage are encountered North of the Equator, and therefore the discussion 

 of the voyage to the Equator includes the whole problem, and what would 

 follow for the South Atlantic is simply and easily carried out. 



