2IO 



A VOYAGE TO Book VIII. 



the wind again veered to the N. W. and continued fo 

 the whole day ; the two fucceeding days at N. N. VV. 

 and N. W. but on the 3Cth veered to the W. N. W. 

 On the 31ft it fhifted to S. S. W. and on the ift of 

 January veered, round to the S. S. S. E. and S. E. 

 1 hofe therefore who endeavour to gain fuch winds, 

 ftand off from the coafl till they fall in with them 

 and this Ibmetimes happens at a greater diftance than 

 at others I mean during the fummcr ; for in winter 

 a different courfe is ncceflary, as we iliall explain in 

 the lequel. 



The atmofphere of thefe feas is generally filled 

 with thick vapours to a confiderable height: fo that 

 often for four or five days fucceflively, there is no 

 poflibiliry of obferving the latitude. Thefe fogs 

 the failors call Sures pardos, and are fond of them, 

 as they are a fure fign that the wind will be frefh 

 and conftant, and that they fliall not be troubled 

 with calms. At this time it is very common to fee 

 the horizon filled with a dark cloud, but of no 

 dangerous confequence, except frefliening the wind 

 a little more than ufual, and a fhort fhower of rain ; 

 the weather, in four or five minutes, becoming as 

 fair as before. The fame thing prefagcs the turbo- 

 nada, or ihovt hurricane ; for the cloud is no fooner 

 formed on the horizon, than it begins, according to 

 the failor's phrafe, to open its eye^ i. e, the cloud 

 breaks, and the part of the horizon . w^here it was 

 formed becomes clear. Thefe turbonadas are moft 

 common after you are paiTed the 17th or i8th degree 

 of latitude. 



Near the tropic, that is between the parallels of 

 fourteen or fixteen and twenty-eight degrees, calms 

 greatly prevail during the months of January, Fe- 

 bruary, and even March ; and in fome years more 

 than in others ; but near the coaft they are not fo 

 common, on account of the land breezes, which arc 

 always between the S. E. and E. S. E. Formerly, 



