170 The National Geographic Magazine 



1 876-1 880, 1 8 passages; average time, 

 102 days. 



1881-1884, 38 passages; average time, 

 91 days. 



1 885-1 888, 64 passages; average time, 

 88 da3 T s. 



1 889-1 892, 83 passages; average time, 

 83 daj's. 



With this much said in support of 

 the claim that navigation by sail is still 

 a factor in freight transportation, ful- 

 filling in the case of a long voyage a 

 sphere for which the steamer is ill- 

 adapted ; that it even has a future of 

 increased usefulness before it, and that 

 its interests must be considered in any 

 broad scheme whose aim is the promo- 

 tion of the world's commerce, the ques- 

 tion of the value of the proposed inter- 

 oceanic canal from the point of view of 

 the sailing ship is worthy of considera- 

 tion. 



Although not so unfortunately situ- 

 ated in this respect as the Suez Canal, 

 where the Red Sea, with its strong 

 monsoon winds, numerous shoals, and 

 intricate passages, interposes an insu- 

 perable obstacle to navigation by sail, 

 the neighborhood of the proposed Amer- 

 ican canal is by no means free from dif- 

 ficulty. The whole isthmus from Te- 

 huantepec eastward to Colombia lies 

 within the tropics, and the climate ex- 

 hibits the characteristic tropical feature 

 to a marked degree. The year is di- 

 vided into two seasons, the wet and the 

 dry, the former lasting from May to 

 December, the latter from January to 

 April. In the vicinity of Colon (lati- 

 tude 9 22' N., longitude 79 55' W.), 

 the Atlantic terminal of the canal, and 

 of Panama (latitude 8° 52' N., longi- 

 tude 79 31' W.), the Pacific terminal, 

 the average annual rainfall amounts 

 to 125 inches and to 47 inches respect- 

 ively , distributed throughout the several 

 months as follows : 



Colon. Panama. 



January 1.9 inches. 0.5 inches. 



February 1.5 " 00 " 



March 1.3 " 0.2 " 



Colon. 



April 27 inches. 



May 11. 6 " 



June 13.9 " 



July 14-3 



August 14.9 " 



September 12.6 " 



October 13.8 " 



November 23. 6 " 



December 122 " 



124.3 



Panama. 



9 inches. 



3 

 2 



5 

 7 

 3 

 9 

 6 



46.9 



At both places the average monthly 

 temperature is 79 Fahrenheit, the vari- 

 ation from month to month being insig- 

 nificant. The extreme temperatures are 

 68° and 95 Fahrenheit. The relative 

 humidity is of course excessive, ranging 

 from 90 per cent during the early fore- 

 noon hours to 75 per cent during the 

 afternoon. 



THE WINDS OF THE ATLANTIC END OF 

 THE CANAD- 



With regard to that feature of the 

 weather most essential to navigation by 

 sail, viz, the winds, the northeast trades 

 blow home to the Caribbean coast 

 throughout practically the entire year. 

 They attain their greatest force and 

 their most northerly direction during the 

 dry season (January-April), and it is 

 during these months that along the east- 

 ern coast of Central America the dreaded 

 ' ' northers ' ' occur — storms which give 

 so little warning of their approach and 

 blow with such dangerous violence that 

 steamers calling at Colon are invariably 

 required to keep up steam in order that 

 they may be able to slip their cables and 

 put to sea at a moment's notice. As the 

 wet season advances the trades weaken 

 in force, at the same time inclining to 

 southeast ; and at its height, during 

 August and September, brief periods 

 of southwesterly winds occur, these, 

 however, being no longer the northeast 

 trades of the Atlantic, but the prolonga- 

 tion of the southeast trades of the Pa- 

 cific, which, reaching across the equator 

 into northern latitudes, are converted by 

 the earth's rotation into southwesterly 



