the ancients, and things will hardly be recognized except under the ancient names, these likewise are annexed to the winds.' Let the general division of the winds be as follows: Cardinal Winds, which blow from the cardinal points of heaven; Semicardinal, which blow half way between those points; and Median, which blow intermediate between these again. And of these Median winds let those be called the Greater Medians which blow half way between the Cardinal and Semi-cardinal, and the rest the Lesser Medians.

The particular division of the winds is shown in the following table:

North-North-East: anciently called Aquilo.

anciently called Vultur- anciently called Libo

nus.

notus.

North-East and by South-East and by South-West and by

North:

anciently called Meses.

North-East:
North-East and by
East.

East-North-East: anciently called Cæcias.

East.

South-East:
South-East and by
South.

South.

South-West:
anciently called Libs.
South-West and by
West.

anciently called Corus. North-West and by West.

North-West:

North-West and by North: anciently called Thrascias.

North North-West: anciently called Circias.

East and by North. South and by East. West and by South. North and by West.

There are also other ancient names for winds, as Apeliotes the East wind, Argestes the West-North-West, Olympias and Scyron the North-West, Hellespontius the East-North-East, and Iapyx the West-North-West; but I do not dwell upon them. Let it be enough to have given fixed names to the winds, according to the order and division of the quarters of the heaven. In the interpretation of authors I place no great confidence; for they are themselves of but little weight.

With reference

to the 6th

Article of Inquiry.

Free Winds.

1. There is no point of the heaven whence a wind may not blow. Nay, if the heavens were divided into as many parts as there are degrees in the horizon, winds will be found at some times or places blowing from each of them.

2. There are whole countries in which it never rains, or at

all events very seldom; but there are no countries where it does not blow, and that often.

With reference

to the 2nd

General Winds.

The phenomena with respect to the general winds Article of In- are few in number; and no wonder, for these winds principally occur in the tropics, regions considered fatal by the ancients.

quiry.

1. Persons sailing in the open sea between the tropics are aware of a steady and continual wind (called by the sailors Brize) blowing from East to West. This wind is so strong, that partly by its own blast, and partly by its influence on the current, it prevents vessels sailing to Peru from returning by the same way.1

2. In the European seas, when the sky is calm and clear, and no particular winds are stirring, there is a gentle breeze from the East, following the sun.

3. It is generally observed that the higher clouds move mostly from East to West; and this even at the same time that there is a calm or a contrary wind below. If this is not always the case, the reason may be that particular winds sometimes blow high up, which overpower this general wind.

Admonition. If there be any such general wind following the motion of the heaven, it is not strong enough to resist particular winds. Such a wind is more observable in the tropics, because it moves there in larger circles; and also in the higher regions of the air for the same reason, and because it has there a free course. Wherefore if you would discover it outside the tropics, and near the earth (where it is very gentle and inactive), make the experiment in the open air, in a perfect calm, on high ground, with a body very susceptible of motion, and towards evening; because at that the time particular east wind does not blow so much.

Injunction. Observe carefully whether the weathercocks and vanes on the tops of towers and steeples do not in the most perfect calms point steadily to the west.

Indirect phenomena.

4. It is certain that in Europe the east wind is sharp and drying, the west wind moist and genial. Is not this because (assuming that the air moves from east to west) the east wind, which moves in the same direction, must

Acosta, Hist. des Indes, iii. 4.

rarify and dissipate the air; and so make it dry and biting; whereas the west wind which moves in a contrary direction collects and condenses the air; which thereby becomes less keen, and in the end wet?

5. Consult the inquiry into the motion of the tides, as to whether they move from east to west. For if the heaven and the waters which are the extremes prefer this motion, it is not unlikely that the air which lies between them will likewise partake of it.

Admonition. These two phenomena last mentioned are termed indirect, because they exhibit the matter in question not directly, but by consequence: a kind of evidence which (in the absence of direct phenomena) I eagerly receive.

Injunction. That this Brize blows perceptibly in the tropics is a certain fact, but the cause of it is doubtful. It doubtful. It may be that it is because the air moves as the heavens do; only that outside the tropics the motion is almost imperceptible by reason of the smaller circles, whereas it is manifest within them where the circles are larger. Or it may be that as all air is expanded by heat, and can no longer be contained in the same space, the contiguous air, is necessarily impelled by the expansion, and produces this brize as the sun advances. But within the tropics, where the sun has greater power, this is more remarkable; without them, it is hardly perceptible. By way of a Crucial Instance to decide the point, inquire whether the brize blows at night or not. For the rotation of the air continues by night, but the heat of the sun does not. 6. But it is certain that this brize does not blow in the night, but that it blows in the morning and even some time after sunrise. Nevertheless this does not terminate the inquiry. For the nocturnal condensation of the air, especially in those countries where the days and nights are not more equal in their lengths than they are different in their degrees of heat and cold, may weaken and disturb this natural but feeble motion of the air.

7. If the air participates in the motion of the heaven, it follows, not only that the east wind is concurrent with the motion of the air, and the west wind is opposed thereto; but also that the north wind blows as it were from above and the south wind as it were from below in our hemisphere, where the north pole is raised above the earth and the south depressed

below it. And this has even been remarked by the ancients, though with hesitation and obscurity; but it agrees well with modern experience; because this brize (which may be a motion of the air) is not due east, but north-east.

With reference to

the 3rd Article of Inquiry. Transition.

Periodical Winds.

As in the inquiry touching the General winds men have been afflicted with blindness, so in that of the Periodical winds, they have suffered dizziness and confusion. Of the former they say nothing, of the latter they talk vaguely and incoherently. But this is the more pardonable, because the thing is variable. For periodical winds change with the place, and the same do not blow in Egypt, Greece, and Italy.

1. That there are periodical winds in some places the application of the name declares, as well as that other appellation of Etesian or Anniversary winds.

2. It has been set down by the ancients as one of the causes of the inundation of the Nile, that at that time of the year the Etesian or North winds are prevalent, which prevent the river from running into the sea, and drive it back.'

3. There are currents in the sea, which can neither be attributed to the natural motion of the ocean, nor to a descent from higher ground, nor to the narrowness of channels, nor to promontories jutting out into the sea; but which are plainly influenced by periodical winds.

4. Those who are unwilling to admit that Columbus conceived so certain and fixed an opinion of the West Indies from the narrative of a Spanish pilot, and consider it still more unlikely that he derived it from the obscure vestiges and rumours of antiquity, take refuge in this; that from periodical winds blowing to the coast of Portugal, he imagined that there was a continent to the westward. The circumstance is doubtful and not very probable, since the winds could hardly travel so great a distance; but in the meantime it is a great honour to this inquiry, if the discovery of the new world may be attributed to one out of the many axioms or observations that it contains.

5. Wherever there are high mountains covered with snow, periodical winds blow from that quarter at the time of the melting of the snows.

'Herod. ii. 20., and Pliny, v. 10.

6. I judge also that from large marshes, which in winter time are entirely flooded, there blow periodical winds at the time when the heat of the sun commences to dry them; but of this I have no certain information.

7. Wherever there is a plentiful generation of vapours, and that at certain times, you may be sure that at those times periodical winds will arise there.

8. If periodical winds are blowing anywhere, and there be no cause for them to be discovered near at hand, you may know that such periodical winds are strangers and come from a dis

tance.

9. It has been remarked that periodical winds do not blow at night, but get up the third hour after sunrise. They appear indeed like winds tired with a long journey, so as to be scarce able to break through the condensation of the night air, but after sunrise they are roused up for a while and continue on their course.

10. All periodical winds (except they rise near at hand) are weak, and easily overpowered by winds that rise suddenly.

11. There are many periodical winds which are neither perceived nor observed, by reason of their weakness and their being overpowered by the free winds. In the winter time therefore, when the free winds are most prevalent, they are scarce perceptible; but in the summer, when these wandering winds are less frequent, they are more apparent.

12. In Europe the principal periodical winds are, northerly winds from the solstice, both before and after the rising of the dog-star; west winds from the autumnal equinox; and east winds from the vernal equinox1; for the winter solstice deserves less attention by reason of the frequent changes in winter.

13. The Ornithian or Bird-winds (so called because they bring birds from cold regions beyond the sea to more sunny climes) have nothing to do with periodical winds; for they often fail in point of time. But whether they blow late or early, the birds wait for their convoy; and if, as often happens, the winds commence to blow and then change again, the birds being deprived of their help drop into the sea, and sometimes fall upon ships.

14. The precise day or hour of the return of the winds is not discovered as it is in the tides. Some writers sometimes specify a day, but it is rather by conjecture than constant observation.

Pliny, ii. 47, 48.