WINDS, 
the effects of the stm on the wind are felt 
during the summer months; for while the 
weather in that season of the year is fine, the 
wind generally becomes stronger as the time 
of the day advances, and dies away towards 
the evening, and assumes that pleasing sere- 
nity so delightful to our feelings. Such are 
the diurnal changes of the wind in northern 
climates. The annual revolution of the sun 
produces still more sensible effects. The 
prevalence of the western winds during sum- 
mer we may attribute to this cause, which is 
still more perceptible in France and Spain; 
because the continent of land to the eastward, 
being heated more than the waters of the 
Atlantic ocean, the air is drawn, during that 
season, towards the east, and consequently 
produces a western wind. 
But these effects are much more percep- 
tible in countries near the tropics than with 
us. For when the sun approaches the tropic 
of Cancer, the soil of Persia, Bengal, China, 
and the adjoining countries, becomes so 
much more heated than the sea to the south- 
ward of those countries, that the current of 
the general trade-wind is interrupted, so as 
to blow, at that season, from the south to the 
north, contrary to what it would do if no land 
was there. But as the high mountains of 
Africa, during all the year, are extremely 
cold, the low countries of India, to the east- 
ward of it, become hotter than Africa in sum- 
mer, and the air is naturally drawn thence to 
the eastward. From the same cause it fol- 
lows, that tire trade-wind in the Indian ocean, 
from April till October, blows in a north-east 
direction, contrary to that of the general 
trade-wind in open seas in the same latitude ; 
but When the sun retires towards the tropic 
of Capricorn, these northern parts become 
cooler, and the general trade-wind assumes its 
natural direction. 
Having given the most obvious causes of 
the periodical monsoons in the Indian seas, 
it is necessary to observe, that no monsoon 
takes place to the southward of the equator, 
except in that part of the ocean adjoining to 
New Holland. There the same causes con- 
cur to produce a monsoon as in the northern 
tropic, and similar appearances take place. 
From October till April the monsoon sets in 
from the N. W. to S. E. opposite to the ge- 
neral course of the trade-wind on the other 
side of the lane ; and here also the general 
trade-wind resumes its usual course during 
the other months, which constitute the winter 
season in these regions. It may not be im- 
proper to conclude this account of the tro- 
pical winds, by enumerating some of the 
principal inflections of the monsoons. 
Between the months of April and October 
the winds blow constantly from W. S W. in 
all that part of the Indian ocean which lies 
between Madagascar and cape Comorin, 
and in the contrary direction from October 
till April, with some small variation in dif- 
ferent places; but in the bay of Bengal these 
winds are neither so strong nor so constant 
as in the Indian ocean. It must also be re- 
marked, that the S. W. winds in those seas 
are more southerly on the African side, and 
more westerly on the side of India ; but these 
variations are not so great as to be repug- 
nant to the general theory. The cause of 
this variation is, as was before intimated, that 
the mountainous lands of Africa are colder 
than the Hatter regions of Arabia and India ; 
consequently the wind naturally blows from 
these cold mountains, in the summer season, 
towards the warmer lands of Asia, which oc- 
casions those inflections of the wind to the 
eastward during the summer months. The 
peninsula of India, lying so much farther to 
the south than the kingdoms of Arabia and 
Persia, adds greatly to this effect ; because the 
wind naturally draws towards them, and pro- 
duces that easterly variation of the monsoon 
which takes place in this part of the ocean, 
while the sandy deserts of Arabia draw the 
winds more directly northward, near the 
African coast. A similar chain of reasoning 
will serve to explain any other inflections or 
variations that may occur in the perusal of 
books of travels, &c. 
Winds, variable. In the temperate 
zones the direction of the winds is by no 
means so regular as between the tropics. 
Even in the same degree of latitude we find 
them often blowing in different directions at 
the same time ; while their changes are fre- 
quently so sudden and so capricious, that to 
account for them has hitherto been found 
impossible. When winds are violent, and 
continue long, they generally extend over a 
large tract of country ; and this is more cer- 
tainly the case when they blow from the 
north or east than from any other points. By 
the multiplication and comparison of me- 
teorological tables, some regular connection 
between the changes of the atmosphere in dif- 
ferent places may in time be observed, which 
will at last lead to a satisfactory theory of the 
winds. It is from such tables chiefly, that 
the following facts have been collected: 
In Virginia, the prevailing winds are be- 
tween the south-west, west, north, and north- 
west ; the most frequent is the south-west, 
which blows more constantly in June, July, 
and August, than at any other season. The 
north-west winds blow most constantly in 
November, January, and February. At Ips- 
wich, in New England, the prevailing winds 
are also between the south-west, west, north, 
and north-east ; the most frequent is the 
north-west. But at Cambridge, in the same 
province, the most frequent wind is the south- 
east. The predominant winds at New York 
are the north and west ; and in Nova Scotia 
north-west winds blow for three-fourths of the 
year. The same wind blows most frequently 
at Montreal in Canada; but at Quebec the 
wind generally follows the direction of the 
river St. Lawrence, blowing either from the 
north-east or south-west. At Hudson’s-bay 
westerly winds blow for three-fourths of the 
year ; the north-west wind occasions the 
greatest cold, but the north and north-east 
are the vehicles of snow. 
It appears from these facts, that westerly 
winds are most frequent over the whole 
eastern coast of North America; that in the 
southern provinces, south-west winds predo- 
minate ; and that the north-west become 
gradually more frequent as we approach the 
frigid zone. 
In Egypt, during part of May, and during 
June, Inly, August, and September, the 
wind blows almost constantly from the north, 
varying sometimes in June tg the west, and in 
July to the west and the east; during part of 
September, and in October and November, 
the winds are variable, but blow more re- 
gularly from the east than any other quarter ; 
907 
in December, January, and February, they 
blow from the north, north-west, and west ; 
towards the end of February they change to 
the south, in which quarter they continue till 
near the end of March ; during the last days 
in March and in April, they blow from the 
south-east, south, and south-west, and at last 
from the east ; and in this direction they 
continue during a part of May. 
In the Mediterranean the wind blows nearly 
thre e-fourths of the year from the north ; 
about the equinoxes there is always an east- 
erly wind in that sea, which is generally more 
constant in spring than in autumn. These 
observations do not apply to the gut of 
Gibraltar, where there are seldom any winds 
except the east and the west. At Bastia, in 
the island of Corsica, the prevailing wind is 
the south-west. 
In Syria the north wind blows from the au- 
tumnal equinox to November ; during De- 
cember, January, and February, the winds 
blow from the west and south-west ; in March 
they blow from the south, in May from the 
east, and in June from the north. From this 
month to the autumnal equinox, the wind 
changes gradually as the sun approaches the 
equator; first to* the east, then to the south, 
and lastly to the west. At Bagdad, the most 
frequent winds are the south-west and north- 
west ; at Pekin, the north and the south ; at 
Kamtschatka, on the north-east coast of Asia, 
the prevailing winds blow from the west* 
In Italy, the prevailing winds differ con- 
siderably according to the situation of the 
places where the observations have been 
made : at Rome and Padua, they are north- 
erly, at Milan easterly. All that we have 
been able to learn concerning Spain and Por- 
tugal is, that on the west coast of these 
countries, the west is by far the most com- 
mon wind, particularly in summer; and that 
at Madrid the wind is north-east for the great- 
est part of the summer, blowing almost con- 
stantly from the Pyrenean mountains. At 
Berne in Switzerland, the prevailing winds 
are the north and west ; at St. Gothard, the 
north-east ; at Lausanne, the north-west and 
south-west. 
Father Cotte has given us the result of ob- 
servations made at 86 different places of 
France ; from which it appears, that along 
the whole south coast of that kingdom the 
wind blows most frequently from the north, 
north-west and north-east ; on the west coast, 
from the west, south-west, and north-west; 
and on the north coast from the south-west. 
That in the interior parts of Frauce, the south- 
west wind blows most frequently in 18 places ; 
the west wind in 14; the north in 13; the 
south in 6 ; the north-east in 4 ; the south- 
east hi 2; the east and north-west each of 
them one. On the west coast of the Nether- 
lands, as far as Rotterdam, the prevailing 
winds are probably the south-west, at least 
this is the case at Dunkirk and Rotterdam. 
It is probable also, that along the rest of this 
coast, from the Hague to Flamburgh, the 
prevailing winds are the north-west, at least 
these winds are most frequent at the FI ague 
and at Franeker. The prevailing wind at 
Delft is the south-east; and at Breda, the 
north and the east. 
In Germany, the east wind is most frequent 
at Gottingen, Munich, Weissemburgh, Dus- 
seldorf, Saganum 3 Erford, and at Buda in 
