TO AND FEOM THE WEST INDIES, ETC. 519 



and no one engaged in the business of commerce need be told that the 

 closer the places of demand and supply be together the more certain and 

 steady will be the supply. 



And there is also another reason why the Southern route, even by the 

 Gulf-bound ships, should be abandoned, and why the Great Circle route 

 should be preferred, in the summer time, which is this : From July to 

 October the Hurricane season rages in the West Indies, while from 

 June to October the gale charts show the Great Circle route to be the 

 least stormy. 



The remarks about the Southern route, for vessels bound in winter as far 

 North as the Chesapeake and New York, are intended especially for the 

 passenger ships from Bremen, Hamburg, and other ports in the North of 

 Europe, and they are earnestly commended to the attention of the masters 

 of such ships. — Maury. 



' In the diagram of Passages, the routes recommended for each month of 

 the year are shown graphically, and will be readily understood. 



Directions fob Sailing to and fkom the West Indies and North 

 Amekica, tbanslatbd from the " Dekrotero de las Antillas," 



BY Captain Livingston. 



These advices, or directions, are simple applications of a principle 

 derived from the general prevalence of the Winds and Currents, as already 

 described, £,s will be eeen by a reference to the diagrams. 



Were it not for the constant wind from the Eastward, which reigns 

 within tiiR Tropics, it seems likely that the maritime commerce by sailing 

 vessels between the two hemispheres would never have existed ; for, by 

 its means, not only are the voyages rendered very simple, which would 

 otherwise be interminable, but people in the most distant regions com- 

 municate with facility; and thus the navigator who is bound to the West- 

 ward has only to place himself within the limits of the Trade Wind, in 

 the certainty that, in this manner, he must effect his purpose in the 

 shortest possible period. Such is the first rtde, which ought always to be 

 attended to for this navigation. 



The second rule is derived from the first ; it is, that any one, bound to 

 the East from the West, ought to get out of the region of tlie Trade Winds 

 into that of the Variables or Anti-Trades. 



We have here the two precepts which direct the operation of navigators 

 in extensive seas ; and in attending to them we shall observe, that every 

 one bound from the Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) to the Eastern coasts 

 of America, ought to get into the Trade Winds as soon as may be, holding 

 in mind a recommendation, which may be considered as a precept, that 

 is, never, in navigating extensive seas, to keep close-hauled, but always take 

 care to sail with the wind free; or at least to keep seven points from it. 



Taking it as granted that the first care of every one bound to America 

 ought to be to get into the limits of the Trade Wind, iit is clear that, with 



