January 8, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



33 



the natives called by that name. This word * bacca- 

 laos ' was used by the Basque fishermen, and meant 

 i codfish ; ' and. if the natives used it, it was only 

 after they had learned it from the Basques. 



Sailors are proverbially profane, and most likely 

 these sailors of the olden time made use of the name 

 of the Deity, much as sailors do at the present day. 

 The Basque name for God is 'Yainkoa,' and no 

 doubt it was frequently used by the fishermen: so 

 frequently, iadeed, that the Indians called the 

 strangers by it, just as the little urchins of Havre 

 and Dieppe now call the English tourists 'Meestaire 

 Goddam.' 



The Indians employed the term to indicate a 

 foreigner, and from them the early colonists learned 

 it. It may afterwards have passed into a word or 

 term of contempt, but it had its origin in the at- 

 tempt of the Indians to pronounce the Basque word 

 'Yainkoa.' Th. E. Slevix. 



San Francisco, Dec. 26. 



1 Chinook winds.' 



In an article by Mr. Ernest Ingersoll, on the Cana- 

 dian Plains, in the last number of Science, the so- 

 called Chinook winds of that portion of these plains 

 adjacent to the base of the Becky Mountains, are 

 described as warm, dry winds ' sweeping up from 

 the great Utah and Columbia basins.' In a previous 

 number of Science (iv. 166) Mr. Lester F. Ward, in 

 speaking of similar winds in the upper Missouri and 

 Yellowstone valleys, says, " It is also a matter of 

 record that the temperature on this latitude dimin- 

 ishes toward the east, and that colder weather pre- 

 vails in Minnesota than in Dakota, and in Dakota 

 than in Montana. The people attribute this to the 

 occurrence of what they denominate ■ Chinook 

 winds ; ' i.e., winds laden with moisture, and moder- 

 ated in temperature from the warmer regions of the 

 Pacific slope." By the inhabitants of the region in 

 which these winds occur, they are very generally 

 explained as currents of air coming from the warm 

 surface of the Pacific Ocean, and flowing eastward 

 through the low passes in the mountains. 



Having had occasion to note the character and 

 effect of these peculiar winds while engaged in geo- 

 logical and exoloratory work in the western part of 

 the plains ana in the mountains at different times 

 during the last ten years, I may be pardoned for 

 stating my belief that the above theories are unsatis- 

 factory, and based on hasty or imperfect considera- 

 tion of the facts. 



As experienced, the Chinook is a strong- westerly 

 wind, becoming at times almost a gale, which blows 

 from the direction of the mountains out across the 

 adjacent plains. It is extremely dry, and, as com- 

 pared with the general winter temperature, warm. 

 Such winds occur at irregular intervals during the 

 winter, and are also not infrequent in the summer, 

 but, being cool as compared with the average summer 

 temperature, are in consequence then not commonly 

 recognized by the same name. When the ground is 

 covered with snow, the effect of the winds in its re- 

 moval is marvellous, as, owing to the extremely de- 

 siccated condition of the air, the snow may be said to 

 vanish rather than to melt, the moisture being licked 

 up as fast as it is produced. 



Winter winds of this character occur over a tract of 

 country stretching at least as far north as the Peace 

 River (north latitude 56°), and at least as far south 



as northern Montana, — a distance of about six hun- 

 dred miles. In the corresponding portion of its 

 length, the Cordillera belt is comparatively strict and 

 narrow, the western edge of the plains being sepa- 

 rated from the ocean by about four hundred miles 

 only of mountainous country. In this circumstance, 

 taken in connection with the moisture- la den character 

 of the air along the northern part of the west coast, 

 we find a clew to the correct explanation of the re- 

 markable characteristics of the so-called Chinook 

 wind. It is in effect, I conceive, precisely similar to 

 that of the foehn of the Alps, and is due to the great 

 amount of heat rendered latent when moisture is 

 evaporated or air expanded in volume, but which 

 becomes again sensible on condensation of moisture 

 or compression of the air. 



To meteorologists the phenomenon requires no fur- 

 ther elucidation ; but as it is one which attracts much 

 attention in the west, owing to its important effect 

 in removing the snow from the grazing-lands, the 

 following more detailed notice, written by me with 

 special reference to the Peace River country, may be 

 of interest (quoted, with little alteration, from the 

 Report of progress, geological survey of Canada, 

 1879-80, p. 77 B.) : — 



" The pressure in the upper regions of the atmos- 

 phere being so much less than in the lower, a body 

 of air rising from the sea-level to the summit of a 

 mountain-range must expand ; and this, implying 

 molecular work, results in an absorption of heat and 

 consequent cooling. The amount of this cooling has 

 been estimated as about one degree centigrade for a 

 hundred metres of ascent when the air is dry, but 

 becomes reduced to half a degree when the tempera- 

 ture has fallen to the dew-point of the atmosphere, 

 and precipitation of moisture as cloud, rain, or 

 snow begins ; the heat resulting from this condensa- 

 tion retarding to a certain degree the cooling due to 

 the expansion of the air. When the air descends 

 again on the farther side of the mountain-range, its 

 condensation leads to an increase of sensible heat 

 equal to one degree centigrade for each hundred 

 metres. 1 It is owing to this circumstance that places 

 in the south of Greenland, on the west coast, during 

 the prevalence of south-easterly winds, which blow r 

 over the high interior of the country, have been 

 found, in winter, to experience a temperature higher 

 than that of north Italy or the south of France, 

 though the North Atlantic Ocean, from which the 

 winds come, can at this season be little above the 

 freezing-point. The wind well known in the Alps 

 as the foehn is another example of the same phenom- 

 enon. It is thus easy to understand how the western 

 plains may be flooded with dry air, but much inferior 

 in temperature to that of the coast, notwithstanding 

 the intervening mountain-barrier. 



The data are yet wanting for an accurate investi- 

 gation of the circumstances of our west coast in this 

 regard, but a general idea of the fact may be gained. 

 We may assume that the air at the sea-level is prac- 

 tically saturated with moisture, or already at its 

 dew-point ; that in crossing the mountainous region 

 the average height to which the air is carried is 

 about 2,000 metres (6,560 feet), and that it descends 

 to a level of about 700 metres (2,296 feet) in the Peace 

 River country. The loss of sensible heat on eleva- 

 tion would in this case amount to 10° C. (18 3 F.) ; the 



1 The figures are Dr. Harm's, quoted by Hoffmeyer in the 

 Danish geographical society's journal, and reproduced in 

 Nature, August, 1877. 



