General Examination of the Pacific Ocean ... Followed by nautical directions for avoiding hurricanes. Translated from the second French edition, under the direction of Commander C. H. Davis

Front matter

GENERAL EXAMINATION OP THE PACIFIC OCEAN BY Capt. CHAELES PHIIIPPE EE OEHALLET, iiJWhi.'--J- OF THE ISIPERIAL HAVY, OFFICER OF THE LEGION OF H0N0K, FOLLOWED BY Uauiusl giwiiotis iox afaoiiring $ntxicmts. TEANSLATED FEOM THE SECOND FEENCH EDITION, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF COMMANDER CHARLES HENRY DAVIS, U. S. N, BY AUTHORITY OP THE AUTHOR. • NEW YORK: E. & G. W. BLUNT. 1867. Entered according to AcAsf ifongress, in the year 1861, by E. & G. W. BLUNT, m the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. University Press, Cambridge : Stereotyped by Welch, Bigelow, and Company. EDITOR'S

Preface

. • During a recent cruise in the Pacific Ocean, in the command of the United States ship St. Mary's, the Editor learned to place such a high value upon this Memoir as to induce him to ask the Author's consent to its being translated into English for the benefit of American navigators. It is, beyond all question, a most accurate and reliable compendium of information concerning the Pa cific Ocean, conveyed both in the text and by the maps, in a convenient and intelligible form, suited to the imme diate practical use of the navigator. This translation, for the permission to make which the Editor here ac knowledges his gratitude to the Author, is as literal as is consistent with English idioms and nautical phraseology ; the divisions and subdivisions, and the forms generally of the original work, have been ad hered to ; the meteorological observations have been reduced from the French to the English standards, as also have the measures of length ; the meridian of Greenwich has been substituted for that of Paris ; and in all similar respects our own usages and style have r\J3stn r>rp«"prved. EDITOR'S

PREFACE.

. IV The work contains sailing directions, extracted from English surveyors and navigators. Where the extract has been sufficiently long to make it at all desirable, the Editor, instead of re-translating them from the French, has taken them from the English originals ; this has been the case with Hood, Hunter, Blackwood, Earle, King, McKenzie, Weddell, and Vancouver. u The directions for the outer route from Sidney to Torres Strait" have been taken from the Australia Directory, published by the Admiralty, Vol. H., 1859 ; the selec tions vary but slightly from those of Captain Kerhallet. Two additions have been made to the original work ; one consists of an extract from the paper of Lieutenant Silas Bent, U. S. N., on the Japan Stream ; the other, of sailing directions for vessels doubling Cape Horn from the eastward, bound to San Francisco, by Mr. George W. Blunt, of New York. C. H. DAVIS. TABLE OF CONTENTS. fioa Peeface to the First Edition ix Preface to the Second Edition xiii Note xv

Chapter I

General Winds 1-61 (Boundaries of the Pacific Ocean ; general remarks ; division of the Pacific Ocean into three regions, — the Equatorial Region, Northern Region, Southern Region ; Equatorial Pacific Ocean ; trade-winds ; disturbances in the trade-winds; belt occupied by the trade-winds; table showing, according to the months, the limits of the trade-winds and the breadth of the belt of the variable winds of the equator which separates the former ; observations on the polar and equatorial limits of the trade-winds. Monsoons of the Pacific Ocean in the belt of the trade-winds ; winds in the Paumotu, Marquesas, and Society groups ; in the Solomon Islands ; N. W. and S. E. Monsoons in the last group, in New Britain, in New Ireland, in New Guinea, in Torres Strait, in the Ladrone Islands. Hurricanes of the South Pacific Ocean ; steady hurricanes of the South Pacific Ocean ; hurricanes of the North Pacific Ocean ; winds in the Sandwich Islands.

North Pacific Ocean ; division of this region into two zones : temperate zone, frigid, zone ; Behring's Straits. South Pacific Ocean, temperate zone, frigid zone. Winds in the Shetland Islands, in the vicinity of Cape Horn ; in the Straits of Magellan ; periodical winds or monsoons of Chili ; bad-weather season and fair-weather season on this coast ; remarks on Chiloe", Valdivia, Concepcion, Valparaiso, Coquimbo, Copiapo ; general winds on the coasts of Bolivia and Peru ; fogs, dews ; remarks on Pisco, Lima, Callao, Payta, and Cape Blanco ; winds in the Galapagos Islands ; monsoons from Cape San Francisco to Cape Corrientes (New Gran ada, Equator). Winds in the Bay of Panama ; alternating breezes in this bay ; periodical winds or monsoons on the coasts of Mexico and Lower Cal ifornia ; disturbances in the monsoons of the coast of Mexico ; gusts of wind ; winds called Papagayos and Tehuantepec ; calms ; winds in the vicinity of Acapulco ; winds on that coast included between Cape Corrientes and Cape San Lucas ; prevailing winds of the coast of Upper California ; winds in the a* VI CONTENTS. parallel of Cape Mendocino ; prevailing winds on the N. W. coast of Amer ica.

Winds on the coast extending from the river Guayaquil to Guascames Point ; in the Bay of Choco ; winds on the coast extending from Cham bira Point to the Gulf of San Miguel ; from the Gulf of San Miguel to the Gulf of Dulce, including the Bay of Panama ; from the Gulf of Dulce to the Gulf of Fonseca ; from the Gulf of Fonseca to the Gulf of Tehuante pec ; from the Gulf of Tehuantepec to the Gulf of Texupan ; from Cape San Lucas to Cape San Diego ; from San Diego to San Francisco ; from San Francisco to Vancouver's Island. Winds at New Archangel ; in Behring's Straits ; on the coast of Kamtschatka ; in the Sea of Okhotsk ; monsoons of the coast of Tartary, of the Islands of Japan, and of the north coast of China ; zone of the typhoons in the Pacific Ocean ; periods at which the typhoons take place ; monsoons in the region included between the coast of China and the north coast of Australia ; winds at Formosa ; monsoons in the Phi lippine Islands; Collas of the Philippines; climate of Manilla; periodical winds of New Guinea ; at the island of Waygiou, in Torres Strait ; winds on the east coast of Australia ; at Port Jackson ; in Bass Straits ; at Van Die men's Land, or Tasmania.

General remarks ; white squalls.) CHAPTEK II. General Currents 62-93 (General remarks. Cross current of the Pacific Ocean ; north branch of this current, or of the Mentor Current ; extent, velocity of this current, and temper ature of its waters ; south branch of the cross current ; current of Cape Horn ; temperature of its waters ; its velocity ; current of the coast of Peru, or Humboldt Current ; breadth of this current ; irregularities observed in it ; temperature of its waters and their velocity ; counter-current of Humboldt ; equatorial current of the Pacific Ocean ; equatorial current of the southern hemisphere ; current of Rossel ; current of the east coast of Australia ; temperature of the southern equatorial current ; current of Rossel, its velocity and temperature ; general current of the east coast of Australia, its velocity, its temperature ; periodical alternating currents of the east coast of Australia ; their velocity ; northern equatorial current ; its temperature ; disturbances observed in this current ; equatorial counter-current ; facts that prove the existence of this counter-current.

Easterly current west of the Sandwich Islands ; currents arising from the monsoons in the Caroline Islands, their velocity, their temperature ; current of Japan or of Tessan ; limits of this current, its velocity, temperature of its waters ; current of the coast of Kamt schatka, its temperature, its velocity ; Behring's Current, its temperature ; Fleurieu's Whirlpool ; cold current of the N. W. coast of America and of the coast of California ; temperature and velocity of this current ; periodical currents of the west coast of Mexico ; comparative table of mean velocities of the currents of the Pacific Ocean in 24 hours ; Japan Current, by Lieut. Bent, U. S. N.)

Chapter III

Navigation op the Pacific Ocean 94-188 (Routes from Europe to the Pacific Ocean. Classification in three divisions of the routes that may be taken in this ocean. First division : routes CONTENTS. VII from the ports of America for China and Australia, with the return tracks ; routes from India or from China for the ports of the east coast of Australia, and back. Second division : routes from India or from China to Australia passing through Torres Strait ; special directions for the navigation of this strait and along the east coast of Australia ; return tracks from the ports of Australia to India or China, passing through Torres Strait or Pitt Strait. Third division : navigation near the west coast of America. First division : routes from the west coast of America to Manilla or Macao ; great southern route ; northern route ; distance at which to cross the line ; return tracks from India or China to the coast of North America with the S. AV. monsoon ; same tracks for the ports of the coast of South America with the S. W. monsoon ; return track from China or Manilla to the ports of the coasts of North or South America with the N. E. monsoon ; return track from Port Jackson and Van Diemen's Land for the coast of America, or for Europe.

Routes from India to the ports of the east coast of Australia ; northern route ; southern route; route passing to the south of Tasmania; route through Bass Strait, and crossing it from west to east ; directions for crossing this Strait from west to east ; anchorages in Bass Strait with the east winds ; routes from the ports of China to the east coast of Australia during the S. W. monsoon ; same route during the N. E. monsoon ; return from the ports of the east coast of Australia to India ; first southern route from September to March ; passage through Bass Strait, coming from the east ; favorable season to cross Bass Strait from the east to the west ; anchorages in Bass Strait with the west winds ; second northern route by Torres Strait, from March to September.

Second division : directions for sailing in Torres Strait ; routes from India to the ports of the east coast of Australia through this strait and back ; inner route ; outer route ; general remarks ; winds, currents ; route through Torres Strait during the N. W. monsoon, coming from the Indian Ocean ; routes for a steamer, from Singapore going to Port Jackson, crossing Java Sea and Torres Strait; Carimata Passage ; southern route in Java Sea preferable during the east monsoon ; northern route in Java Sea preferable during the west monsoon ; information concerning the islands Bawian, Galion, Pondy, Kangelang, Flat, etc. ; concerning Bima, Rusa-Lingit, Iron Cape, Solombo, Lumpo-Batang, Tanakeke, Bouthain, Bulu-Kamba, etc. ; concerning Salayer Straits, Pulo Cambing, etc. ; course for Torres Strait on leaving Java Sea ; Endeavor Strait ; way to cross it from west to east ; currents in this passage and courses for crossing it from east to west ; Prince of Wales Channel ; course to cross it from west to east ; Bligh Channel ; way to cross it from west to east and from east to west ; particulars concerning this channel ; tides and currents in Bligh Channel ; route from Cape York, leaving the Great Barrier by the Raine Island Channels ; route from Sidney or Port Jackson to India ; inner route ; outer route ; directions of Captain King for the inner route ; way out of Torres Strait to enter the Indian Ocean by Endeavor Strait, and by Prince of Wales Channel ; Blackwood's directions for the outer route ; entrance of the Great Barrier by the Raine Island Channels ; Raine Island ; anchorage near this island ; entrance by the south pass ; entrance by the north pass ; passages to Cape York on leaving the middle banks ; North Channel ; Pollard Channel ; Hardy Islands ; anchorage at these islands ; middle passage ; Pandora entrance into the Great Barrier Reef ; Papuan, or Great Northeast Channel ; track of the Astrolabe and the Zelee across Torres Strait ; discussion of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the inner and outer routes ; opinions of several captains on this subject ; different passes through the Great Barrier Reef; Stead Passage ; route from Port Jackson to India through Pitt Strait, during the S. E. mon- CONTENTS. soon, south of the equator (from March to September) ; same route during the N. W. monsoon south of the equator (from September to March) ; eastern routes during the N. W. monsoon to China from the ports of the east coast of Australia.

Third division : navigation on the west coast of Amer ica ; favorable periods for doubling Cape Horn ; Straits of Magellan ; doubling Cape Horn from west to east; doubling Cape Horn bound to San Francisco ; navigation along the west coast of America ; course from Cape Horn to Mexico ; navigation on the coast of Chili ; on the coast of Peru ; courses from Valparaiso to Callao ; from Guayaquil or Payta to Callao ; from Callao to Valparaiso ; from Valparaiso to Concepcion ; navigation on the coast of Mexico ; course coming from the southward for the Bay of Panama ; from the Bay of Panama to the southward or westward ; navigation on the coast of California ; from Panama to San Francisco ; from San Francisco to the Sandwich Islands ; from Payta or Guayaquil to San Francisco ; from San Francisco to Valparaiso ; from Acapulco to Panama and Guayaquil during the winter ; during the summer ; from Acapulco to Valparaiso ; from Guay aquil to Valparaiso ; from the coast of Chili or Peru to Pitcairn's Island, the Marquesas, and Sandwich Islands ; return routes from the Sandwich Islands to the coasts of Chili and Peru, touching at Tahiti; from the Sandwich Islands to any port whatever of the coast of America. Conclusion ; table showing the length of passages between the principal ports of the Pacific Ocean.)

Appendix

. Nautical Directions pok avoiding Hubbicanes . . . 189-200 Alphabetical Index of the Najies of Places .... Romme, in his highly esteemed work, entitled Table of Winds, Currents, and Tides, wherein are collected a large number of observations drawn from the voyages of the old navigators, in speaking of the Pacific Ocean, expresses himself thus : — " If the observations which have been m^de on the motions of the atmosphere in this ocean have been few, it must also be said that they merit great confidence, and that they should be col lected with much care and great interest ; for the navigators by whom they were made seem to have been especially selected for enterprises so vast and important, and to have brought to them all the acquirements necessary for such researches." What Romme wrote, in 1817, of the undeniable talents and merit of the commanders charged with those great voyages of discovery, we may now repeat of the modern navigators, adding that their labors have furnished to the physical sciences most numerous and varied materials.

The late exploring voyages have introduced the knowledge of a multitude of facts important to navigation ; and although some of them might have been already pointed out, the greater part had been but very imperfectly studied. It is especially to French navigators that we owe, in the latter period of exploration, the most interesting and the most complete records, particularly in the Pacific Ocean. The voyages of Entrecasteaux, Baudin, Freycinet, and tl more recent ones of Bougainville, Duperrey, Dumont-d'UrvT X Vaillant, and Du Petit-Thouars, have especially advanced our knowledge of the physical phenomena peculiar to this vast sea, and of its winds and currents. Placed under the orders of commanders whose names have become historical in all the navies of the globe, officers of talent and hydrographical engineers of the highest merit have united in one common work, sustained in their fatigues by one noble aim, the conviction of the immense results to be acquired both for science and navigation.

It is but justice, then, to accord the gratitude due to those who made these long and laborious cruises, for their great services. The physical portions of these voyages, drawn up by MM. Du perrey, Darondeau, De Tessan, Vincendon-Dumoulin, are mod els, — luminous synopses, full of facts based on observations recorded daily, and even momentarily, throughout the whole duration of the voyage. These observations have confirmed the existence of facts men tioned by the old navigators, and have led to the discovery of entirely unknown phenomena. In the late voyages, the temperature of the sea, constantly observed, has led to the determination of the course of the currents in the Pacific Ocean, which could not before be correctly understood. The currents of the atmosphere had scarcely been indicated ; recent observations admit of their being studied and described almost with certainty.

Voyages of circumnavigation are in general very volumi nous, and seamen can with difficulty obtain them, on account of their high price and their bulk. Besides, in each one of them we find observations peculiar to certain localities, and made during certain periods. These observations are only materials to be compared and discussed, in order to deduce from them the general laws which govern the winds and currents. This is the work we have undertaken. "We have not con cealed from ourselves the difficulties of the task ; neither have we neglected any. inquiry necessary to enable us to deduce con clusions which are general and intelligible, but which nevertheless are not to be depended on as absolute, from the voyages, and other works in which some of these laws have been already given.* ■ We propose to extract the portion important to navigation.

To this end we have collected one by one the details relating to the same locality, and we have only deduced from them a general rule when we have seen the same facts reproduced con stantly or periodically. After the study of winds and currents comes naturally its application to navigation. This constitutes the third part of the present memoir, which is by no means scientific, and which we have designed as much as possible to render a practical manual. We conclude with a sketch of the routes to be followed in crossing the Pacific Ocean in all directions. This also we have derived from actual voyages, comparing together a great number of routes, and pointing out the mean of those which have usually given the shortest passages. It is needless to observe, that those we have traced may be modified ; we undertake only to select the routes which will approach most nearly the mean, with such qualifications as the winds and par ticular circumstances render necessary. * We have consulted the voyages made from the year 1713 to the year 1842, under the orders of the commanders whose names follow : — Fre'zier, 1713; Cook, 1768-1778; Bougainville, 1768; Surville, 1769; Marion, 1772; La Pe'rouse, 1785; Mears, 1788; Marchand, 1791; D'Entrecasteaux, 1793; Butler, 1794; Anson, Sharp, Byron, Wallis, Carteret, Hunter, Vancouver, 1790 1795; Broughton, 1795; Hogan, 1796; Fearn, 1798; Baudin, 1800; Krusenstern, 1804; Golowin, 1811 ; Kotzebue, 1813; Freycinet, 1817; Duperrey, 1822; Bougain ville, 1824; Lntki?, 1825; Beechey, 1825; Dumont-d'TJrville, 1826; Downes and Reynolds, 1831 ; Vaillant, 1836 ; Du Petit-Thouars, 1837 ; Dumont-d'TJrville, 1837 ; Wilkes, 1838-1842.

To these voyages we will add a table of winds, currents, and tides, by Romme ; a collection of hy drographicaL memoranda, for the use of the Atlas of the Pacific Ocean, by Krusenstern ; the Atlas of Berghaus and that of Johnston ; the directions of King on the coast of Patagonia, &c, &c. The general examination of the Pacific Ocean will complete the series of our similar investigations into the great seas of the globe. If they prove to be, as we hope they will, of some utility to navigators, we shall have attained the end proposed. Charles de Kerhallet. Paris, December 3, 1851. PKEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. To this new edition of the General Examination of the Pacific Ocean, we have made numerous and important additions, par ticularly in the chapter on winds and in that on navigation. Among these additions, we will only mention : directions relai> ing to the navigation of the east coast and of the northeast coast of Australia ; routes to be pursued in sailing from the ports of India for those of this continent, and back again ; those concern ing the navigation of Torres and Bass Straits.

The growth of commercial relations gives to this information an interest that will doubtless be appreciated by those command ers who frequent these dangerous regions. For Torres Strait we have collected the Directions of P. King, of Blackwood, and of Yule, officers of H. B. M. Navy j and we have added to them several articles published from time to time in the Nautical Magazine. We have translated King's directions ; those of Blackwood and of Yule had been translated by M. Darondeau, hydrographical engineer, who has given them in the Melanges Hydrographiques. In arranging them and blending them with each other, we have still preserved them verbatim, and we have thus been able to construct nearly com plete sailing directions for the navigation of Torres Strait and the northeast coast of Australia.

For Bass Strait we have translated a part of the Australia Di rectory, published by the British Admiralty. . We have also given the routes for doubling Cape Horn and

PREFACE.

TO THE SECOND EDITION. passing from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, pointing out the period which, according to different navigators, is the most favor able for making this passage. We have further completed the directions for sailing on the west coast of America, from Cape Horn to Upper California. Thanks to the numerous documents carefully collected by Captains F6r£ol de Leyritz and Le Rouxo de Rosencoat, in com mand of the corvette la Prudente and of the brig Obligado, cruising in the Pacific Ocean, we have been enabled to give at the end of this work a table showing the length of passages be tween tha principal ports of this sea. This information might, in many cases, be useful to seamen ; and we are happy to ex press here to these two superior officers our gratitude for the assistance they were so kind as to afford us by communicating their observations.

Finally, an Appendix, at the end of the work, contains nauti cal directions to be followed when in the vortex of a hurricane or of a typhoon.* We owe this Appendix to the kindness of the learned, hydrographical engineer, M. Keller.* As we have already said in our Considerations sur V OcSan Atlantique and sur I' Ocean Indien, these directions may render the greatest service to seamen, by pointing out to them the evolutions to be performed, (if, indeed, evolution is possible,) according to the position they may occupy in the circle of the tempest. Such are the principal additions made to this new edition which we have revised and corrected. Without flattering our selves that we have given a complete manual of navigation for this vast sea, which is every day more frequented, we hope that, with our work, it may be traversed by the most advantageous routes in every direction.

Charles de Kerhallet. Paris, November 23, 1855. * Consult, for the general rules observed in hurricanes, typhoons, &c, the Considera tions G€n€rales sur V Ocean Atlantique, or those sur V Ocean Indien. NOTE. We give to the winds the name of the point of the compass from which they blow ; to the currents, that of the point of the compass toward which they run. The direction of the winds, that of the currents, the courses, tha trend of the land, and the bearings, are corrected for the variation of the magnetic needle, except when otherwise stated. GENERAL EXAMINATION OF THE PACIFIC OCEAK

Chapter I. General Winds

The immense extent of water, bounded on one side by Asia, the Philippine Isles, and New Holland, on ' the other by the western coast of America, extends from the Arctic to the Ant arctic circle, over a space of 133° of latitude. This vast sea was unknown to Europeans till the year 1513, and was discovered by Vasco Nunez de Balbao, who saw it from the summit of one of the mountains situated near the Isthmus of Panama. Magalhaen, known more commonly under the name of Ma gellan, navigated this sea from America as far as the Philippine Isles, and gave it the name of Pacific Ocean, in consequence of the constant fair weather that he met with during his voyage. The Pacific Ocean, to which, in our opinion, the name of the Great Ocean would be more "suitable in all respects, is vast, beyond all other oceans of the globe.

It is the 'one least interrupted by extended tracts of land ; and, in general, there are found there only small islands, either detached or united in groups. In examining the form of. this sea, it appears that it is very broad in its southern division, and that this breadth extends, nearly uniform, as high as the Tropic of Cancer. It ■WINDS. — GENERAL REMARKS. is only in the vicinity of this circle that the coast of Asia and the coast of America incline towards each other to meet at Behring's Straits, situated in about 65° north latitude. The Pacific Ocean presents, in the forms of the shores which bound it, some remarkable traits of resemblance with the Atlantic Ocean. The west coast of South America projects much like the west coast of Africa, south of the Equator.

The Gulf of Panama and the coast of Mexico have formations which offer some similitude with those of the Gulf of Guinea and the promontory of Africa ; the Caribbean Sea, which runs up into the east coast of Mexico, seems to correspond to the gulf which is contained between the north coast of New Holland and the coasts of China, that gulf in which lie the Moluccas, the Philippine Islands, &c. Nevertheless, these two oceans, in their other divisions, whether north or south of the line, differ much in their extent, and in the form of the outlines of their shores.* The Pacific Ocean is usually divided into two regions, separated by the Equator ; but, to facilitate our studies of this sea, we will divide it into three regions : the first, as the most important, — the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, — will be comprised within the tropics ; the second, the North Pacific Ocean, will be bounded by Behring's Straits and the Tropic of Cancer ; the third, the South Pacific Ocean, will be comprised between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle. ■ It was formerly believed that, over all the extent Equatorial Paciflo ocean, occupied by the Pacific Ocean, the trade winds blew Trade Winds. with as much and even more regularity than in the Atlantic Ocean.

But recent and numerous observations have led to tlie opinion that there is not probably one half* of this ocean subject to the constant influence of the trade winds ; and it is now almost certain that the range for the southeast trade winds is only over that portion contained between the meridian of the Galapagos Islands (at 150 or 200 leagues from * Romme, Table of Winds, Currents, and Tides. WINDS. — BELT OF TRADE WINDS. the coast of America) and the meridian of the Marquesas Isl ands, or Archipelago of Nouka-Hiva ; and that the range for the northeast trade winds is over that part which, beginning at about 100 leagues off the coast of America, extends to the vicinity of the Ladrone Islands. The numerous groups of islands lying west of the DistulbaMca Marquesas Islands, and near New Holland, as well in the trade as those situated to the north of the Equator, in corresponding latitudes, seem to have the effect of changing the trade winds, in the west part of the Pacific Ocean, into periodical winds, or into monsoons and variable winds.

Thus it has been remarked, that in these groups the trade wind was only the prevailing one from the month of October till the month of May, in the belt lying to the north of the Equator ; from March to October, in that situated to the south of the Equator ; and that west winds, squalls, and rains took the place of it during the rest of the year. We shall return hereafter to this important fact, and we shall give unques tionable proofs of it, selecting from a great number of obser vations some of those taken from voyages of circumnavigation. The belt over which the trade winds of the Pacific * . . Belt of tirade extend — that in which, as we have said, they blow winds with regularity — is contained between the Equator and the parallels of 30° north latitude and 30° south latitude. After a great number of researches, we have been able to form the following table, from the routes taken in the Pacific Ocean by ninety-two vessels which crossed the line between the meridians of 101° 40' and 142° 40' west longitude.

This table is still incomplete ; we believe, however, that it shows some important facts, although the results which it gives must only be received as ajjproximations, since the means are not yet deduced from a very large number of observations.* * We have, however, been able to render it much more complete than that given in the first edition, — thanks to the numerous details forwarded us by the kindness of Captain de Leyritz, who was in command for three years of the Corvette la Pro. "WINDS. — LIMITS OF THE TRADE WINDS. i Breadth Table showing, according to the Months, the Limits of the Trade Winds, and the of the Zone of the variable Winds of the Equator. It appears from this table, that tbe polar limit of Polar limit 1 r of the trade the trade winds is variable, and that it removes more or less from the Equator, accordingly as the sun's declination is north or south.* It appears, likewise, that the equatorial limit of Equatorial . . .