TO RIO DE JANEIRO. 



7 



portable by the ardent rays of the sun ; every one seems to languish : several, 

 and often many hours drag heavily on, while the vessel makes no progress, and 

 only experiences a disagreeable motion by the heaving of the glassy ocean, its 

 surface not being in the least ruffled by a breath of air. In the mean time, an 

 elemental war is brooding. A black and pitchy cloud is seen awfully and 

 slowly moving on, with fury in its train ; all is alarm ; with haste the sails are 

 lowered. The sullen langour of the atmosphere is succeeded by the " madden- 

 ing tempest," so suddenly and with so little warning, that sometimes, before every 

 precaution can be taken, the sweeping impetuosity lays the vessel instan- 

 taneously upon her side, and, in that situation, she is hurried forward with 

 immense velocity. These conflicting winds are as quickly followed by solid 

 torrents of rain. In a short period, all is tranquillity again, and the returning 

 sun, in burning radiance, annihilates the last breeze that feebly curled the face 

 of the ocean. The same scenes alternately present themselves. During the 

 night these sudden squalls are the most dangerous, as their approach cannot be 

 so well ascertained. 



On the first day that we were becalmed, notwithstanding the advances we 

 occasionally made by the transient operation of those gusts, we found our lati- 

 tude 1° 43' north, and the preceding day it was only 1° 23'. This can only be 

 accounted for by the strong northerly currents now prevailing here ; and hence 

 it would appear, that the same invariable law of attraction governs them as well 

 as the winds. The squalls I have mentioned also came from the south and 

 south-east, and the winds beginning at this time to blow here, issue from the 

 same quarter, in consequence, no doubt, of the sun being in the northern 

 tropic. If he creates a vacuum in his vicinity by the rarefaction of the air, 

 which induces a great influx from the southern and northern hemispheres of the 

 atmosphere, in like manner the exuberant evaporations from the sea may pro- 

 duce a rushing of the waters to supply what is lost (pro tempore) by vapours. 

 Various causes, however, operate to prevent an uniform appearance in this 

 respect, such as the occasional counter-attraction of the moon and other celestial 

 bodies, of continents and other lands, as well as a prevailing repulsive power in 

 nature. Still if those effects could be minutely followed through tlieir various 

 ramifications, it might be found that the winds and currents originate in the 

 combinations I have ventured to suggest. Is it not possible, that the calms near 

 the equator at this period may arise from the equally poised contention of the 

 south-east and north-east winds meeting, and that the former, in the sun's march 

 through the northern tropic, will gradually gain upon the latter in extent of 



