2l6 



A VOYAGE TO 



Booxc Yin. 



thefe ftorms is proportional to the latitude ; being be- 

 tween 20 and 30 degrees, neither fo violent nor lalling 

 as between 30 and 36; ^nd ftill increafing in propor- 

 tion as the latitude is greater. 



These winds have likewife no regular or fettled 

 period, the interval betwixt them being fometimes not 

 above eight days ; at others much longer ; nor do they 

 always blow with the fame violence ; but are moft un- 

 certain in the winter, rifing fuddenly when leaft ex- 

 pelled, tho' not always blowing with the fame force. 



In this fea a change of the wind from N. to N. 

 is a fure fign of flormy weather for the wind is never 

 fixed in the N.E. nor does it ever change from thence 

 to the E. its conftant variation being to the W. or S. W. 

 contrary to what is feen in the northern hemifphere. 

 Indeed in both the change of the wind ufually corre- 

 fponds with the courfe of the fun ; and hence it is, 

 that as in one hemifphere it changes from E. to S, and 

 rhence to the W. conformable to the courfe of the lu- 

 minary, fo in the other it changes, for the fame reafon,, 

 from the E. to N. and afterwards to W. 



It is an old obfervation among the pilots of this 

 fea, that a day or two before the N. wind begins to 

 blow, there is always feen along the fhores, and about 

 the fhips, a fort of fea fowl, called quebrantahuelTas, 

 i. e. ofnrage, or break bones. Thefe birds feldom 

 appear at other times. I am little inclined to believe, 

 much lefs to propagate any vulgar report ; but here 

 I mull declare, that after repeated obfervations, in or- 

 der to difcover the truth or falfity of this aflertion, 1 

 always faw them before every ftorm I met with here ; 

 and fomctimes even a day before, when there was not 

 the leaft appearance of the winds coming about to 

 the N. and as the v/inds increafed, great numbers of 

 them gathered about the fhip, fometimes flying round 

 her, at others fettling on the waves, but always kept 

 near the fiiip, till fair weather returned, it is ftiii 

 more nngular, that they are never feen either on the 



