30 On the Cyclones of the North Pacijic Ocean, 



blows and rains as fierce from tlience, as it did before from tlie 

 !N",E., and as long." A better description of a violent cyclone, 

 as observed on its center-path in the lower latitudes north of the 

 eqnator, could hardly be given. 



On the Relations of Cyclones to the Monsoons. — In the Asiatic 

 seas, as elsewhere, the judgment of the navigator is often mis- 

 guided by the loose and inaccurate statements which are found 

 in various authorities. Thus, it is said that gales or hurricanes 

 rarely occur in these seas, except at the change of the monsoons ; 

 or at the period of the equinoxes. These assumed axioms are 

 greatly erroneous: — as the inspection of the storm chart will 

 suffice to show. 



The actual relations of the cyclones to the monsoons and local 

 winds of the Asiatic seas are of much interest, and merit a care- 

 ful examination. It is quite remarkable that the monsoons 

 should be found to have little, if any control or influence, as re- 

 gards the regular courses and development of the cyclones. 

 This may show the predominance of cosmical laws and influen- 

 ces, over those apparently opposing conditions which are so ex- 

 tensively presented in these alternating winds. 



The longitudinal extent of the westerly monsoons, parallel to, 

 and on both sides of, the equator, appears to be far greater than 

 has been recognized by most writers. In the northern hemis- 

 phere, these counter-winds of the true trades extend from the 

 east coast of Africa, near Ion. 45° E., ht least to Ion. 175^ E., in 

 the central Pacific. The proper trade wind, appears to consist 

 of a comparatively thin stratum of aerial current, moving upon 

 the ocean surface, and is distinguished by its inclination towards 

 the equator. On this stratum there is ordinarily imposed another 

 current, probably of greater de23th and volume, into Avhich the 

 trade wind ultimately merges, and which also moves westward 

 in the trade-wind latitudes, but generally inclines yrom the equa- 

 tor; as is shown by the rain-clouds and squalls which it carries, 

 and by the direction of translation inmarted to the cyclonea 

 which it embodies. This important wind-current, so little recog- 

 nized by most w^riters except as a monsoon- wind, frequently 

 alternates with or displaces the true trades, and still more fre- 

 quently it displaces the westerly monsoon, as a surface wind; 

 especially to the east of Sumatra. Thus, the "southwest mon- 

 soon" of the China Sea and the western Pacific, which extends 

 to the shores of Japan, and far eastward into the Pacific, is very 

 often displaced from the surface by the subsidence of the main 

 current of south-easterly wind ; more especially in the regions 

 near the Asiatic coast. 



Universality of the Law of Storms. — The law of rotation and 

 progression in storms as developed on the Atlantic Ocean, 

 which was substantially discerned by the present writer in the 



