LANDFALL: BULDIR LSLAND 123 



pressure on the surface of the sea.-^^ fhe same reason will also 

 explain the fact that now the air is clear and brighter, while on 

 the other hand nothing but fog and thick and dark atmosphere 

 prevail in spring and summer, inasmuch as the west, southwest, 

 and south winds, which mostly blow steadily through the spring 

 and summer, fill the atmosphere with vapors which are only 

 driven hither and thither, but not dispersed, by the occasional 

 north winds. However, through the coldness of the air these 

 vapors are condensed in the form of hail and snow and conse- 

 quently are precipitated, so that the air becomes clearer after each 

 squall; whereupon it remains calm for a while, until new vapor 

 has gathered at the same place, ^^a 



On the 28th of October, in the morning, we were surprised 

 again by something new: When the day broke we observed a 

 great change in the water, from which it was not difficult to 

 conclude that we must be near land. When the lead was heaved 

 we found ourselves in fourteen fathoms. A little later the atmos- 

 phere cleared and we saw an island ahead of us, straight on our 



282 In the MS the following passage, of which the first sentence may 

 be considered parenthetical, here intervenes: "In this I saw an explana- 

 tion of the phenomenon that the waves, with a wind of the same force 

 in both cases, reach the shores twice as high in autumn and winter as 

 they do in spring and summer, because the pressure is from the center 

 towards the periphery and the shores offer resistance. Also [continuing 

 the argument on the less turbulent sea], the air is cleared in autumn by 

 the frequent falls of hail and snow, and these, in falling, deaden the 

 motion of the waves by their pressure." 



283 If Pallas' text be read in conjunction with the AIS, of which the only 

 essential variant has been quoted in footnote 282, Steller's thought in 

 this passage may possibly be rendered as follows: The heavy and cold air 

 of autumn and winter has, as compared with the conditions existing in 

 spring and summer, a deadening effect on wave formation in the open 

 sea, both by exerting greater pressure on the surface of the water and 

 by the blanket of hail and snow which results from the condensation of 

 moisture in this form at this season of the year. On the other hand, 

 because this pressure is from the center outwards and because this 

 pressure is greater in autumn and winter than in spring and summer, it 

 causes higher waves to strike the shore in the former seasonal half of the 

 year than it does in the latter half. 



