that often prevails to the Westward of Scilly. 187 
Of the Bay of Biscay it may be observed that, by reason of 
its form, and exposure to the reigning winds, which are often 
violent, and which pass over a vast expanse of water, there 
is no part of the ocean, familiarly known to us, whose circum- 
stances are, in any degree, similar to it. It ought not there- 
fore to surprize us, if we find that it differs, in any particu- 
lar, from other seas. Seamen have remarked its uncommon 
degree of agitation, in stormy weather ; but this has not, as 
far as I know, been properly accounted for. May it not be 
owing generally, to the same cause as that which produces 
the current? and at times, to the very current itself? With 
respect to the first — the waves of a deep bay or gulf, when 
the wind forces the water into it, will meet with a resistance 
in the land at the head of it, which must occasion a reverbe- 
ration, that will render the surface of a great part of the gulf 
more unquiet, than when there is an opening at the end, to 
allow' the undulatory motion a freer scope. What is said here, 
is exemplified on a small scale, by Mr. Smeaton's very inge- 
nious manner of quieting Ramsgate harbour. (See his Tract 
on that harbour, page 45.) And with respect to the second 
cause — the effect of a current running to windward, in pro- 
ducing a short, hollow, and therefore dangerous, wave, is 
pretty well known. Accordingly, at seasons when the current 
runs strong, and the wind blows fresh from the north-west 
quarter, this cause must also contribute to the agitation of the 
waters, in the north part of the bay.* 
* How far the reverberatory motion may extend, I know not : but it is certain that 
an undulatory motion impressed on the sea by the wind, will extend to a prodigious 
distance ; and even into a region where a different wind prevails : as for instance, a 
swell raised by a strong gale, at south, or south-west, in the tract of variable winds. 
