have suffered and been in darkness so they have been troubled with a Vertigo or giddiness concerning staid and certain Winds Of the former they say nothing of the latter they talk up and down and at random This is the more pardonable the thing being various for these stayed winds do change and alter according to the places where they be the same do not blow in Egypt Greece and Italy 1. That there are stayed winds in some places the very name that is given them doth declare it as the other name of Etesiaes means Anniversary or yearly winds 2. The Ancients attributed the cause of the over-flowing of Nilus to the blowing of the Etesian that is to say Northern winds at that time of the year which did hinder the River's running into the Sea and turned the stream of it back 3. There are Currents in the Sea which can neither be attributed to the natural motion of the Ocean nor to the running down from higher places nor the straightness of the opposite shoars or to Promontories running out into the Sea but are meerly guided and governed by these stayed winds 4. Those who will not have Columbus to have conceived such a strong opinion concerning the West-Indies by the relation of a Spanish Pilot and much less believe that he might gather it out of some obscure foot-steps of the Ancients have this refuge that he might conjecture there was some Continent in the West by the certain and stayed winds which blew from them towards the shoars of Lusitania or Portugal A doubtful and not very probable thing seeing that the voyage of winds will hardly reach so large a distance In the mean time there is great honour due to this Inquisition if the finding of this new world be due to one of those Axioms or Observations whereof it comprehends many 5. Wheresoever are high and snowy Mountains from thence blow stayed winds until that time as the snow be melted away 6. I believe also that from great Pools which are full of water in the Winter there blows stayed winds in those seasons when as they begin to dry up with the heat of the Sun But of this I have no certainty 7. Wheresoever Vapours are engendred in abundance and that at certain times be sure that stayed winds will blow there at the same times 8. If stayed and certain winds blow any where and the cause cannot be found near at hand assure your self that those certain winds are strangers and come from far 9. It hath been observed that stayed winds do not blow in the night time but do rise about three hours after Sun-rising Surely such winds are tired as it were with a long journy that they can scarcely break through the thickness of the night Air but being stirred up again by the rising of the Sun they go forward by little and little 10. All stayed winds unless they blow from some neighbouring places are weak and yield unto sudden winds 11. There are many stayed winds which are not perceivable and which we do not observe by reason of their weakness whereby they are overthrown by the freewinds Wherefore in the winter they are hardly taken notice of when the free winds wander most but are more observeable in the Summer when those wandring winds grow weak 12. In Europe these are the chief stayed winds Northwinds from the Solstice and they are both fore-runners and followers of the Dog-star West-winds from the Equinoctial in Autumn Eastwinds from the Spring Equinoctial as for the winter Solstice there is little heed to be taken of it by reason of the varieties 13. The winds called Ornithii or Bird winds had that name given them because they bring Birds out of cold Regions beyond the Sea into warm Climates and they belong not to stayed winds because they for the most part keep no punctual time and the Birds they for the convenience of them whether they come sooner or later and many times when they have begun to blow a little and turn the birds being forsaken by it are drowned in the sea and sometimes fall into ships 14. The returns of these certain or stayed winds are not so precise at a day or an hour as the flowing of the Sea is Some Authors do set down a day but it is rather by conjecture than any constant observation Customary or Attending Winds Of the fourth and fifth Articles Connexion THe word of attending winds is ours and we thought good to give it that the Observation concerning them be not lost nor confounded The meaning is this Divide the year if you please in what Country soever you be into three four or five parts and if any one certain wind blow then two three or four of those parts and a contrary wind but one we call that wind which blows most frequently The customary or Attending wind of that Country and likewise of the times 1. The South and Northwinds are attendants of the world for they with those which are within their Sections or Divisions blow oftner over all the world than either the East or the West 2. All free winds not the customary are more attendant in the winter than in the summer but most of all in the Autumn and Spring 3. All free winds are attendants rather in the Countries without the Tropicks and about the Polar Circles than within for in frozen and in torrid Countrys for the most part they blow more sparingly in the middle Regions they are more frequent 4. Also all free winds especially the strongest and most forcible of them do blow oftner and more strongly morning and evening than at noon and night 5. Free winds blow frequently in hollow places and where there be Caves than in solid and firm ground Injunction Humane diligence hath almost ceased and stood still in the observation of attending winds in particular places which notwithstanding should not have been that Observation being profitable for many things I remember I asked a certain Merchant a wise and discreet man who had made a Plantation in Greenland and had wintred there why that Country was so extream cold seeing it stood in a reasonable temperate Climate He said it was not so great as it was reported but that the cause was twofold One was that the masses and heaps of Ice which came out of the Scithian sea were carried thither The other which he also thought to be the better reason was because the West wind there blows many parts of the year more than the East wind as also said he it doth with us but there it blows from the Continent and cold but with us from the Sea and warmish And said he if the East wind should blow here in England so often constantly as the Westwind does there we should have far colder weather even equal to that as is there 6. The West-winds are attendants of the Pomeridian or afternoon hours for towards the declining of the Sun the winds blow oftner from the East then
and like Hirelings serve both to sail and grind and would be useful for many other things if humane care were not wanting Their Natures are reckoned amongst secret and bidden things Neither is that to be wondred at seeing the Nature and Power of the Air is unknown whom the Winds do serve and flatter as Eolus doth Juno in the Poets They are not primary Creatures nor any of the six days works no more than the rest of the Meteors actually but after born by the order of the Creation PARTICULAR TOPICKS OR Articles of Inquisition Concerning the Winds The Names of Winds DEscribe or set down the Winds according to the Sea-mans industry and give them Names either new or old so that you keep your self constant to them Winds are either general or precise either peculiar or free I call them general which always blow precise those which blow at certain times Attendants or Peculiar those which blow most commonly Free Winds those which blow indifferently or at any time General Winds 2. Whether there be any General Winds which are the very self motion of the Air and if there be any such in order to what motion and in what places they blow Precise or fixed Winds 3. What Winds are Aniversary or yearly winds returning by turns and in what Countrys Whether there be any Wind so precisely fixed that it returns regularly at certain days and hours like unto the flowing of the Sea Attending or Peculiar Winds 4. What Winds are peculiar and ordinary in Countrys which observe a certain time in the same Countrys which are Spring winds and which are Summer winds which Autumnal which Brumal which Equinoctial which Solstitial which are belonging to the Morning which to Noon which to the Evening and which to the Night 5. What winds are Sea winds and what winds blow from the Continent and mark and set down the differences of the Sea and Land winds carefully as well of those which blow at Land and Sea as of those which blow from Land and Sea Free Winds 6. Whether winds do not blow from all parts of Heaven Winds do not vary much more in the parts of Heaven from which they blow than in their own qualities Some are vehement some mild some constant some mutable some hot some cold some moistning and dissolving some drying and astringent some gather clouds and are rainy and peradventure Stormy some disperse the clouds and are clear Divers qualities of Winds 7. Enquire and give accompt which are the winds of all the forenamed sorts or kinds and how they vary according to the regions and places There are three local beginnings of Winds either they are thrown and cast down from above or they spring out of the Earth or they are made up of the very body of the Air. Local beginnings of Winds 8. According to these three beginnings enquire concerning winds Namely which are thrown down out of that which they call the middle Region of the Air which breath out of the concavities of the earth whether they break out together or whether they breath out of the Earth imperceiveably and scattering and afterwards gather together like rivolets into a River Finally which are scatteringly engendred from the swellings and dilatations of the neighbouring Air Neither are the generations of the winds original only for some there are also accidental namely by the compressions or restraints of the Air and by the percussions and repercussions of it Accidental Generations and Production of Winds 9. Enquire concerning these accidental Generations of winds They are not properly generations of winds for they rather increase and strengthen winds than produce and excite them Hitherto of the community of winds There are also certain rare and prodigious winds such as are called tempests whirle-winds and storms These are above ground There are likewise some that are subterraneal and under ground whereof some vaporous and Mercurial they are perceiveable in Mines Some are sulphurous they are sent out geting an issue by Earthquakes or do flame out of fiery Mountains Extraordinary Winds and sudden Blasts 10. Enquire concerning such rare and prodigious winds and of all miraculous and wonderful things done by winds From the several sorts of winds let the Inquisition pass to those things which contribute towards the winds for we will so express it because the word Efficient signifies more and the word concomitant less than we mean and to those things which seem to raise or to appease the winds Things contributing or making for the Winds and raising and appeasing them 11. Enquire sparingly concerning Astrological considerations of winds neither care thou for the over-curious Schemes of the heaven only do not neglect the more manifest Observations of winds rising about the rising of some stars or about the Eclipses of the Luminaries or Conjunctions of Planets nor much less on those which depend on the courses of the Sun and Moon 12. What Meteors of several sorts do contribute or make for winds what the earth-quakes what rain what the skirmishing of winds one with another for these things are linked together and one draws on the other 13. What the diversity of Vapours and exhalations contributes towards the winds and which of them do most engender winds and how far the Nature of winds doth follow these its materials 14. What those things which are here upon the earth or are there done do contribute towards the winds what the hills and the dissolutions of Snow upon them what those masses of Ice which swim upon the Sea and are carried to some place what the differences of soil and land so it be of some large extent what Ponds Sands Woods and Champion ground what those things which we men do here as burning of Heath and the like doth contribute to the manuring of Land the firing of Towns in time of War the drying up of Ponds and Lakes the continual shooting off of Guns the ringing of many Bells together in great Cities and the like These things and Acts of ours are but as small straws yet something they may do 15. Enquire concerning all manner of raisings or allayings of winds but be sparing in fabulous and superstitious causes From those things which make for the winds let the Inquisition proceed to enquire of the bounds of the winds of their Height Extention and Continuance The bounds of Winds 16. Enquire carefully of the Height or elevation of winds and whether there be any tops of mountains to which the winds do not reach or whether Clouds may be seen sometimes to stand still and not move when the winds at the same time blow strongly upon the earth 17. Enquire diligently of the spaces or rooms which the winds take up at once and within what bounds they blew As for example if the south wind blew in such a place whether it be known certainly that at the same time the North wind blew ten miles off And contrariwise into how narrow and straight bounds the winds may be reduced
so that winds may pass as it were through Channels which seems to be done in some whirlwinds 18. Enquire for how long time very much ordinary or little time winds use to continue and then slack and as it were expire and die Likewise how the rising and beginning of winds useth to be what their languishing or cessation is whether suddenly or by degrees or how From the bounds of the winds let your Inquisition pass over to the successions of winds either amongst themselves or in respect of rain and showrs for when they lead their rings it were pretty to know the order of their dancing Successions of Winds 19. Whether there be any more certain rule or observation concerning the successions of winds one to another or whether it have any relation to the motion of the Sun or otherwise if it have any what manner of one it is 20. Enquire concerning the succession and the alteration or taking turns of the winds and rain seeing it is ordinarily and often seen that rain lays the wind and the wind doth disperse the rain 21. Whether after a certain term and period of years the succession of winds begin anew and if it be so what that period is and how long From the succession of the winds let the Inquisition pass to their motions and the motions of winds are comprehended in seven Inquisitions whereof three are contained in the former Articles four remain as yet untouched For we have enquired of the motion of winds divided into the several Regions of the Heaven also of the Motion upon three lines upward downward and laterally Likewise of the accidental motion of compressions or Restraints There remain the fourth of Progressions or going forward the fifth of Undulation or waving the sixth of conflict or skirmish the seventh in humane Instruments and Engines Divers Motions of the Winds 22. Seeing Progression is always from some certain place or bound enquire diligently or as well as thou canst concerning the place of the first beginning and as it were the spring of any wind For winds seem to be like unto Fame for though they make a noise and run up and down yet they hide their heads amongst the Clouds so is their Progress as for example if the vehement Northern wind which blew at York such a day do blow at London two days after 23. Omit not the Inquisition of Undulation of winds We call Undulation of winds that motion by which the wind in or for a little space of time rises and abates as the waves of the water which Turns may easily be apprehended by the hearing of them in houses and you must so much the rather mark the differences of Undulation or of Furrowing between the water and the air because in the air and winds there wants the Motion of gravity or weight which is a great part of the cause of the waves rising in the water 24. Enquire carefully concerning the Conflict and meeting of winds which blow at one and the same time First whether at the same time there blow several Original winds for we do not speak of reverberated winds which if it comes to pass what Windings they engender and bring forth in their motion and also what Condensations and Alterations they produce in the body of the Air 25. Whether one wind blow above at the same time as another blows here below with us For it hath been observed by some that sometimes the Clouds are carried one way when the Weather-cock upon a Steeple stands another Also that the Clouds have been driven by a strong gale when we here below have had a great calm 26. Make an exact particular description of the motion of the winds in driving on Ships with their Sails 27. Let there be a Description made of the motion of the winds in the sails of Ships and the sails of Wind-mills in the flight of Hawks and Birds also in things that are ordinary and for sport as of displayed Colours flying Dragons Duels with winds c. From the motions of winds let the Inquisition pass to the force and power of them Of the power of Winds 28. What winds do or can do concerning Currents or Tides of waters in their keepings back puttings forth or inlets and overflowings 29. What they do concerning Plants and Insects bringing in of Locusts Blastings and Mill-dews 30. What they effect concerning Purging or Clearing and infecting of the air in Plagues Sicknesses and Diseases of Beasts 31. What they effect concerning the conveying to us things which we call spiritual as sounds rayes and the like From the powers of winds let the Inquisition pass to the Prognosticks of winds not only for the use of Predictions but because they lead us on to the causes For Prognosticks do either shew us the preparations of things before they be brought into action or the beginnings before they appear to the sense Prognosticks of Winds 32. Let all manner of good Prognosticks of winds be carefully gathered together besides Astrological ones of which we set down formerly how far they are to be enquired after and let them either be taken out of Meteors or Waters or instincts of Beasts or any other way Lastly close up the Inquisition with enquiring after the imitations of winds either in Natural or Artificial things Imitations of Winds 33. Enquire of the Imitations of winds in Natural things such as breaths inclosed within the bodies of living Creatures and breaths within the receptacles of distilling Vessels Enquire concerning made Gales and Artificial winds as Bellows Refrigeratories or coolers in Parlours or Dining rooms c. Let the Heads or Articles be such Neither is it unknown to me that it will be impossible to answer to some of these according to the small quantity of experience that we have But as in civil causes a good Lawyer knows what Interrogatories the Cause requires to have witnesses examined upon but what the witnesses can answer he knows not The same thing is incident to us in Natural History Let those who come after us endeavour for the rest THE HISTORY The Names of Winds To the first Article WE give Names to Winds rather as they are numbred in their order and degrees than by their own Antiquity this we do for memories and perspicuities sake But we adde the old words also because of the assenting voices or opinions of old Authors of which having taken though with somewhat a doubtful judgment many things they will hardly be known but under such names as themselves have used Let the general division be this Let Cardinal winds be those which blow from Corners or Angles of the World Semicardinal those which blow in the half-wards of those and Median Winds those which blow between these half-wards Likewise of those which blow betwixt these half-wards let those be called Major Medians which blow in a Quadrant or fourth part of these divisions the lesser Medians are all the rest Now the particular division is that which
diversity of the matter which feedeth them by which they are engendred as Sea Snow Marishes or the like Or by the tincture of the Countrys through which they pass Or by their original local beginnings on high under ground in the middle all which things the ensuing Articles will better declare and explain 38. All winds have a power to dry yea more than the Sun it self because the Sun draws out the vapours but if it be not very fervent it doth not disperse them but the wind both draws them out and carries them away But the south wind doth this least of any and both timber and stones sweat more when the South wind blows a little than when it is calm and lies still 39. March winds are far more drying than summer winds insomuch that such as make Musical Instruments will stay for March winds to dry their stuff they make their Instruments of to make it more porous and better sounding 40. All manner of winds purge the air and cleanse it from all putrifaction so that such years as are most windy are most healthful 41. The Sun is like to Princes who sometimes having appointed Deputies in some remote Countries the subjects there are more obsequious to those Deputies and yield them more respect than to the Prince himself And so the winds which have their power and origine from the Sun do govern the temperatures of the Countries and the disposition of the air as much or more than the Sun it self Insomuch that Peru which by reason of the nearness of the Ocean the vastness of Rivers and exceeding great and high hills hath abundance of winds and blasts blowing there may contend with Europe for a temperate and sweet air 42. It is no wonder if the force and power of winds be so great as it is found to be Vehement winds being as Inundations Torrents and Flowings of the spacious air Neither if we attentively heed it is their power any great matter They can throw down trees which with their tops like unto spread sails give them advantage to do it and are a burden to themselves Likewise they can blow down weak buildings strong and firm ones they cannot without Earthquakes join with them Sometimes they will blow all the snow off the tops of hills buryng the Valley that is below them with it as it befel Soliman in the Sultanian fields They will also sometimes drive in waters and cause great Inundations 43. Sometimes winds will dry up Rivers and leave the Channels bare For if after a great drought a strong wind blows with the Current for many days so that it as it were sweeps away the water of the River into the sea and keeps the Sea water from coming in the River will dry up in many places where it doth uot use to be so Monition Turn the Poles and withal turn the Observations as concerning the North and South For the presence and absence of the Sun being the cause it must vary according to the Poles But this may be a constant thing that there is more sea towards the south and more land towards the North which doth not a little help the winds Monition Winds are made or engendred a thousand ways as by the subsequent Inquisition it will appear so to fix that Observations in a thing so various is not very easie Yet those things which we have set down are for the most part most certain Local beginnings of Winds To the eighth Article Connexion TO know the local beginnings of winds is a thing which requires a deep search and Inquisition seeing that the Whence and Whither of winds are things noted even in Scripture to be abstruse and hidden Neither do we now speak of the Fountains or beginnings of particular winds of which more shall be said hereafter but of the matrixes of winds in general Some fetch them from above some search for them in the deep but in the middle where they are for the most part engendred no body hardly looks for them such is the custom of men to enquire after things which are obscure and omit those things which lie as it were in their way This is certain that winds are either in-bred or strangers For winds are as it were Merchants of vapors which being by them gathered into Clouds they carry out and bring in again into Countreys from whence winds are again returned as it were by exchange But let us now enquire concerning Native winds for those which coming from another place are strangers are in another place Natives There are three local beginnings of them They either breath or spring out of the ground or are cast down from above or are here made up in the body of the Air. Those which are cast down from above are of a double generation for they are either cast down before they be formed into Clouds or afterwards composed of rarified and dispersed Clouds Let us now see what is the History of these things 1. The Poets feigned Eolus his Kingdom to be placed under ground in Dens and Caves where the winds prison was out of which they were at times let forth 2. Some Philosophical Divines moved by those words of Scripture He brings forth the winds out of his Treasures think that the winds come out of some Treasuries namely places under ground amongst the Mines of Minerals But this is nothing for the Scripture speaketh likewise of the Treasures of Snow and Hail which doubtless are engendred above 3. Questionless in subterraneal places there is great store of Air which it is very likely sometimes breaths out by little and little and sometimes again upon urgent causes must needs come rushing forth together An Indirect Experiment In great droughts and in the middle of Summer when the ground is cleft and chopped there breaks out water many times in dry and sandy places Which if waters being a gross body do though it be but seldom it is probable that the air which is a subtile and tenuous body may often do it 4. If the Air breaths out of the earth by little and little and scatteringly it is little perceived at the first but when many of those small emanations or comings out are come together there is a wind produced as a River out of several Springs And this seems to be so because it hath been observed by the Ancients that many winds in those places where they begin do at first blow but softly which afterward grow stronger and increase in their progress like unto Rivers 5. There are some places in the Sea and some Lakes also which swell extreamly when there is no wind stirring which apparently proceeds from some subterraneal wind 6. There is great quantity of subterraneal spirit required to shake or cleave the earth less will serve turn for the raising of water Wherefore earthquakes come but seldom risings and swellings of waters are more frequent 7. Likewise it is every where taken notice of that waters do somewhat swell and
rise before Tempests 8. The weak subterraneal spirit which is breathed out scatteringly is not perceived upon the earth until it be gathered into wind by reason the earth is full of pores but when it issues from under the water it is presently perceived by reason of the waters continuity by some manner swelling 9. We resolved before that in Cavernous and Denny places there were attendant winds insomuch that those winds seem to have their local beginnings out of the earth 10. In great and rocky Hills winds are found to breath sooner namely before they be perceived in the Valleys and more frequently namely when it is calm weather in the valleys But all mountains and rocks are cavernous and hollow 11. In Wales in the County of Denbigh a mountainous and rocky Country out of certain Caves as Gilbertus relateth are such vehement eruptions of wind that cloaths or linnen laid out there upon any occasion are blown up and carried a great way up into the air 12. In Aber Barry near Severn in Wales in a rocky cliff are certain holes to which if you lay your ear you shall hear divers sounds and murmurs of winds under ground An Indirect Experiment Acosta hath observed that the Towns of Plata and Potosa in Peru are not far distant one from the other and both situated upon a high and hilly ground so that they differ not in that And yet Potosa hath a cold and winter-like air and Plata hath a mild and spring-like témperature which difference it seems may be attributed to the silver Mines which are near Potosa Which sheweth that there are breathing places of the earth as in relation to hot and cold 13. If the earth be the first cold thing according to Parmenides whose opinion is not contemptible seeing cold and density are knit together by a strict knot it is no less probable that there are hotter breaths sent out from the Central cold of the earth than are cast down from the cold of the higher air 14. There are certain Wells in Dalmatia and the Country of Cyrene as some of the Ancients record into which if you cast a stone there will presently arise tempests as if the stone had broken some covering of a place in which the force of the winds was inclosed An Indirect Experiment Aetna and divers other Mountains cast out fire therefore it is likely that air may likewise break forth especially being dilatated and set into motion by heat in subterraneal places 15. It hath been noted that both before and after Earth-quakes there hath blown certain noxious and forraign winds as there are certain little smothers usually before and after great firings and burnings Monition The Air shut up in the earth is forced to break out for several causes sometimes a mass of earth ill joined together falls into a hollow place of the earth sometimes waters do ingulf themselves sometimes the Air is extended by subterraneal heats and seeks for more room sometimes the earth which before was solid and vaulted being by fires turned into ashes no longer able to bear it self up falls And many such like causes And so these Inquisitions have been made concerning the first local beginning of winds Now followeth the second origine or beginning from above namely from that which they call the middle Region of the air Monition But let no man understand what hath been spoken so far amiss as if we should deny the rest of the winds also are brought forth of the earth by vapours But this first kind was of winds which come forth of the earth being already perfectly framed winds 16. It hath been observed that there is a murmuring of woods before we do plainly perceive the winds whereby it is conjectured that the wind descends from a higher place which is likewise observed in Hills as we said before but the cause is more ambiguous by reason of the concavity and hollowness of the hills 17. Wind follows darted or as we call them shooting stars and it come that way as the star hath shot whereby it appears that the air hath been moved above before the motion comes to us 18. The opening of the Firmament and dispersion of Clouds are Prognosticks of winds before they blow here on earth which also shews that the winds begin above 19. Small stars are not seen before the rising of winds though the night be clear and fair Because it should seem the Air grows thick and is less transparent by reason of that matter which afterward is turned into wind 20. There appears Circles about the body of the Moon the Sun looks sometimes blood red at its setting the Moon rises red at her fourth rising and there are many more Prognosticks of winds on high whereof we will speak in its proper place which shews that the matter of the winds is there begun and prepared 21. In these Experiments you must note that difference we spake of namely of the two-fold generation of winds on high that is to say before the gathering together of vapours into a Cloud and after For the Prognosticks of Circles about and colours of the Sun and Moon have something of the Cloud but that darting and occultation of the lesser stars is in fair and clear weather 22. When the wind comes out of a Cloud ready formed either the Cloud is totally dispersed and turned into wind or it is torn and rent in sunder and the wind breaks out as in a storm 23. There are many Indirect Experiments in the world concerning the repercussion by cold So that it being certain that there are most extream colds in the middle region of the Air it is likewise plain that vapours for the most part cannot break through that place without being joined and gathered together or darted according to the opinion of the Ancients which in this particular is true and sound The third local beginning of winds is of those which are ingendred here in the lower part of the air which we also call swellings or overburthenings of the Air. A thing very familiar and frequent yet passed over with silence A Commentation The generation of those winds which are made up in this lower part of the Air is a thing no more obscure than this namely that the Air newly composed and made up of water and attenuated and resolved vapours joined with the first Air cannot be contained within the same bounds as it was before but groweth out and is turned and takes up further room Yet there are in this two things to be granted First that one drop of water turned into air whatsoever they fabulously speak of the tenth proportion of the Elements requires at least a hundred times more room than it had before Secondly that a little new air and moved added to the old air shaketh the whole and sets it into motion as we may perceive by a little wind that comes forth of a pair of Bellows or in at a little crevise of a window or wall