6 



strong outlines rose on the east, and it seemed 

 as if a squall would have forced us to hand our 

 topsails ; but the breeze freshened anew, there 

 fell a few large drops of rain, and the storm was 

 dispersed without our hearing any thunder. It 

 was curious to observe, during this time, the 

 effect of several black, isolated, and very low 

 clouds, which passed the zenith. We felt the 

 force of the wind augment or diminish progres- 

 sively, according as small bodies of vesicular 

 vapour approached or receded, while the elec- 

 trometers, furnished with a long metallic rod 

 and lighted match, showed no change of electric 

 tension in the lower strata of the air. It is by 

 means of these squalls, which alternate with 

 dead calms, that the passage from the Canary 

 islands to the Antilles or southern coasts of Ame- 

 rica is made in the months of June and July. 

 In the torrid zone, the meteorological pheno- 

 mena follow each other in a very uniform man- 

 ner ; and the year 1803 will be for a long time 

 memorable in the annals of navigation, because 

 several vessels coming from Cadiz to the Carac- 

 cas were forced to lie to in the fourteenth degree 

 of latitude, and the forty-eighth degree of longi- 

 tude, on account of a very violent wind, which 

 blew for several days from the north-north-west. 

 What an extraordinary interruption must we 

 suppose in the play of the aerial currents, to ex- 

 plain a cross wind, which without doubt must 



