TKAJJE-WtNDS. 
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nomeuon mucli more complicated than most persons admit. 
In the Atlantic Ocean, the longitude, as well as the decli- 
nation of the sun, influences the direction and limits of the 
trade-winds. In the direction of the New Continent, in 
both hemispheres, these limits extend beyond the tropics 
eight or nine degrees ; while in the vicinity of Africa, the 
variable winds prevail far beyond the parallel of 28 or 27 
degrees. It is to bo regretted, on account of the progress 
of meteorology and navigation, that the changes of the 
currents of the equinoctial atmosphere in the Pacific 
are much less known than the variation of these same 
currents in a sea that is narrower, and influenced bv the 
proximity of the coasts of Guinea and Brazil. The 'dif- 
ference with which the strata of air flow back from the two 
polos towards the equator cannot bo the same in every 
degree of longitude, that is to say, on points of the globe 
where the continents are of very different breadths, and 
where they stretch away more or less towards the poles. 
It is known, that in the passage from Santa Cruz to 
Cumana. as in that from Acapulco to the Philippine Islands, 
seamen are scaroely ever under the necessity of working 
their sails. We pass those latitudes as if we were descending 
a river, and we might deem it no hazardous undertaking 
if we made the voyage in an open boat. Farther west, on 
t lie coast of St. Martha and in the Gulf of Mexico, the 
trade-wind blows impetuously, and renders the sea very 
stormy.* 
The wind fell gradually the farther wo receded from the 
African coast: it was sometimes smooth water for several 
hours, and these short calms were regularly interrupted by 
electrical phenomena. Black thick clouds, marked by strong 
outlines, rose on the east, and it seemed as if a squall would 
have forced us to hand our topsails ; hut the breeze fresh- 
(adds he) that several phenomena, which are presented by the atmo 
sphere and the ocean, especially the winds, may be explained by the 
polar currents.” — Hooke’s Posthumous Works, p. 364. 
* The Spanish sailors call the rough trade-winds at Carthagena in the 
West Indins los Li'iaotes de Santa Martha; and in the Gulf of Mexico, 
last Lrizas par das. These latter winds are accompanied with a gray aud 
cloudy sky. 
