W. throughout all India from noon till 12 at night and coming out of the Sea towards the Land are therefore call'd Viracoins or Sea Winds They often stay late and blow but slowly Nearer the Coasts of China you have the Terreinhos out of the West and N. W. S. E. and E. N. E. Being in the North they change to the South and then ensues a calme till the Terreinhos come in The Brises in the Straights begin about 9 or 10 in the Morning blowing freshest at noon and so gradually declining till 4 or 5 at last cease in a Calme which lasts till 10 11 or 12 at night VVhen begins the Land Brise till 5 or 6 and then Calme till the Sea Brise comes in This account I receiv'd from a Sea Captain well vers'd in all parts of the Levant having serv'd under the Venetians severall years in those Seas At the river of Constantinople the VVinds commonly blow thorough but in exceeding fair VVeather you shall have both the Land and Sea Brises as in the Straights If either the Easterly or VVesterly VVinds blow fresh they hinder both the Land and Sea Brises in the Mediterranean of which wee must note They are always the more languid and weaker the later they come in In very hot days and when no other VVinds are stirring you may sometimes observe this alternation between the Land and Sea Brises on the Coasts of England but scarce with any certainty beyond the Latitude of Portugal Brises of all sorts are more constant in Summer then Winter and between the Tropiques then in the Temperate Zones The Etesians or Anniversary VVinds are those which blow constantly at certain seasons of the yeare The most remarkable species begin in Summer about the rise of the Dog starre and last 40 days being preceded by their Prodromi or Fore-runners 8 or 10 days The account of Pliny is not much different from Aristotle as he computes their Etesians in the 2 d book of his Naturall History Not only the Stagirite and Theophrastus but of late De Cartes and many other Moderns derive their Origine from the colliquated snows and ice in the Northerly regions For the long continuance of the Sun neer 6 months together above their Horizon at last overcomes the obstinacy of the cold and dissolves the snows which being attenuated into VVinds make long marches towards the South where they find the Air more yielding and pure then the Foggs and grosse vapors of the North. They were call'd the Sleepy VVinds Venti Delicati Somniculares by reason they intermit in the night time and rise again with the Sun happily because the vapors were then only sufficiently dilated by the celestiall beams though in the night time they subside and hover neare the Earth being too refrigerate and dense to constitute VVinds till they are again quicken'd put in motion by the approaches of the Sun I am willing to acquiesce in the aforesaid cause and I believe wee in England or France might owe our Etesians to Groenland and other parts of the Frozen Zones because wee have no constant visible Fountains of any such VVinds in our own dominions but if the Etesians of Greece according to the sentiments of Aristotle doe allways depend on the resolution of snows in the North they would certainly take Russia Poland or Germany in the way which lye neerer the Artick Pole before they arrive at Greece and yet on the other side of the Taurican hills they are said to have Southerly VVinds about the time of the Graecian Etesians VVee may better make judgement of these Winds that being most Peculiar to this Country they were no Forreigners in their Originall but sprung from particular Fountains within it selfe such as the hills of Macedon and Thrace that have perennial Snows of their own and these being master'd by the scorching heats of Summer may give birth to their Etesian Winds which has this advantage over the other opinion that it clears the difficulty why they are silent in the night and blow with fresher Gusts at Midday when the Sun mounts highest in the Northern Hemisphere I shall only adde not to mention severall others of the modern Naturallists that even * Cabeus himselfe who was a person sufficiently Zealous in asserting the Peripatetique Hypothesis dissents from the opinion of Aristotle will scarce allow the Etesians of Greece a remoter Origine then the neighboring Alps. I shall not insist upon the mistake for which some of his own interpreters have severely enough reflected upon Aristotle That he should first deduce the Origine of these VVinds from the Frozen Zones and afterward assign the reason why they blow stronger in the Day time because the liquefaction of the Snows is interrupted by the Nocturnall Cold when it 's Notorious that in those Countrys the Sun for many Months together is never depres'd below their Horizon Towards the Adriatique and many parts of Asia they have Set Winds which arrive from the N. and N. E. Yet all these which were reputed the Venti Stati blow not from the Northerly Points for in Gascony about the same time with the Etesians of Greece they have rather Southerly Winds which Scaliger who was best able to judge of his own Country observes to be unwholesome and Pestilentiall At Madrid for the most part of the Summer they have a Brise from the Pyreneans or the Adjacent Guadarama which extremely allays the excesse of heat You shall have different sorts of Winds from the same Snowy mountain blowing to severall quarters according to the situation of the Countrys As was observ'd in those Countrys by the foremention'd Cabeus Saepe nobis Boreas Borealibus Auster Spirat It being not unusuall for them in Lombardy to feel a Northerly and at Tirol which is situate on the contrary side of the Alps a Southerly Wind at the same time In Italy they can never fail of Etesians from their own Appennines and so happily on the shoare of Guzarat and the Indian Ocean from mount Caucasus And where ever great Chains or ridges of Hills run along as the Caucasean or Appennine this very often renders an account of most Etesians there about Yet I question whether many Authors may not ascribe too much to this one cause for in some places they have Anniversary Winds that can never possibly have their rise from the Resolution of Snows And I believe it would prove extremely difficult to lay down any tolerable Hypothesis of the Monsoons on the Coasts of Afric and India from the best discoverys wee have yet been able to make of those Parts There are other Stated or Anniversary Winds which they call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Avicular and White-South Winds either because they were so friendly to the procreation of birds or rather that they return'd with Nightingales or Swallows in the spring beginning to blow after the Summer Solstice by the computation of Aristotle 70 days about the beginning
the North East and so last to the 7 or 8 though sometimes the Tornado VVinds have been met with from the 12 th of N. Lat. and generally continue till within 4 degrees of the line Moreover from the African shoare 100 or 200 leagues West the foremention'd North-East Wind commonly inclines to the East and 20 degrees off from the meridian of the Azores will be most at East North-East and as the VVinds neer the Continent of Europe are commonly between East and North so at the meridian of the hithermost Azores they hang between South-West and North-West The S. East Winds begin to take place between the Aequator and the Tropique of Capricorn and the nearer you are to the Coast of Afric they are the more Southerly and as you approach to the Coast of Brasile it inclines more and more to the East And there is not only variation in respect of the Longitude but likewise of the Latitude So that neere the Aequator the VVind is more towards the South then it is in the same Meridian neer the Tropique of Capricorn where it it is constantly between S. E. by E. and S. E. by S. From hence wee may understand what variations happen to the Generall Winds in respect to the degrees of Longitude and for their Latitude or distance from the Aequator it 's for the most part govern'd by the course of the Sun which being Excentrical from the Earth as it approaches or deviates more or lesse from one Tropique to another so it alternately causes the same declinations in the Universall Winds when it deflects towards the Northern signs they likewise bend the same way If the Sun be just about the Aequinoctiall they have the same Winds and tydes in the Pacifique and so from Peru to the Moluccas when it 's in the Summer Solstice the Trade Wind reaches to at least the 36 th degree of Boreal Latitude and being in Capricorn it not only declines to almost the 40 degree of S. Lat. but obliges them that navigate in the Northern Hemisphere to fetch their VVind much neerer the line The same detrusion of the Seas and VVinds happens not only in the Ocean between Africk and the West Indies but in the South seas towards the Philippine Islands For from March to October they hang towards the North and from October to March they revert with the Sun towards the Southern parts of the world Yet there may some accidents intervene that frequently impede the course of the tydes and Universal VVinds as the Situations of promontorys or shoars especially about the Coast of Guiny and oother parts of Africk but in the Indian seas subjacent to the Torrid Zone from the 10 or 11 degrees of S. Lat. to the 28 there are constantly the same motions of the Tydes and VVinds till the Sun retiring towards the Tropique of Cancer draws the Winds 10 or 11 degrees more North nay sometimes almost to the Aequinoctial line but as it describes a contrary Arch towards the South they in like manner make their excursions to about the 30 degree of South Latitude The Adjacent Mountains that guard them from the East likewise divert the Levants from the Coasts of Guiny which occasions such tedious Calms towards the Aequinoctiall that some ships have waytted severall months for a VVind before they could set sayl from their Port. So Angola Congo and many other Countrys along the Aethiopique Ocean from the line to neer the Tropique of Capricorne as Cape Negro Carinba c. are shelterd from the Generall Brise As likewise Peru and some other Western parts of America which have vast ridges of Hills that run for many thousand leagues from North to South dividing Guiana and Brasile from Peru and the Kingdome of Chili I shall only add that the Levants blow much stronger by day then night as is well known to all Mariners who have sail'd between the Tropiques which shows that they rather depend on the Sun then the motion of the Earth or Primum Mobile These are the most Generall observations but as I before suggested the Trade VVinds loose much of their soveraignty neare the shoars and are frequently impeded by the intervention of Islands and Crosse Winds and sometimes the Promontorys and Land Brises repell them from their Coasts yet these or whatever extraneous accidents can never alter the perennial motion but it still recovers again blowing from Africk to the American continent and so through the South seas towards the East Indies from thence makes as it were a complete Tour round the world The Ocean between Jemiac and Carthagene is oftentimes very tempestuous but neerer inclining to either shoars the fury of the Trade Winds is much abated and for 20 leagues in length at a place call'd the Keys of Cuba it 's interrupted by a Westerly Wind that blows all the yeare round So that it prevayles most in the Pacifique and other Spacious seas where it runs streaming without impediment along the liquid Plaines that from New Spain to the Philippine Islands they steer the same course for 60 days together and from the Cape of good Hope to St. Helens it likewise constantly swells their sayles with one secure and equall gale Wee might likewise venture at a better account then has hitherto been given why the Western Wind blows most commonly on this side the Tropiques for the whole current of Air being carry'd from East to West it recoyls back again and by reason of this repercussion from about 30 degrees Latitude where the Trade VVind ceases the Western begins Here in England the Eastern usually govern the spring and wee have sometimes variable VVinds but generally the Western ingrosse the greatest part of the yeare which indeed are no more then the Tropicall VVind at rebound for not being able to return back against the stream the Trade VVinds still raigning in the Torrid Zone it must needs bee diverted toward the Poles and sometimes produces the West and otherwhile the Laterals North and South West as the Angles are more direct or acute in their reflexion Thus from the same Latitude where the Trade Wind ends there usually begins a motion contrary to the course of the Sun by which wee sail from West to East and so much the more or lesse as it deflects towards either of the Poles wherefore those who navigate from the Moluccas to the Western parts of America being never able to hold on their course in the middle and beare up against the Generall VVind fetch a compasse beyond the Tropiques sometimes to 36 and otherwhile to 40 as the course of the Sun and consequently the Winds and Tydes incline more or lesse towards the North or South And so those that sail from Barhados St. Domingo or Jamaica are forc'd to steer their course towards the Gulf of Florida to the 36 and in Summer sometimes beyond the 40 degree of N. Latitude where they meet with the Reverse or Western Winds to conduct them into Europe
the straights of Magellan which renders the Passage so very difficult into the South Seas But were the whole Sublunary Globe of the same equall and uniforme superficies wee should have VVinds in most places no lesse constant then the Monsoons and as regularly govern'd by the course of the Sun It will be no hard matter to explicate the cause of the Easterly Monsoons this being the perpetuall course of the Trade-wind all the year round between the Tropiques But that they afterward revert to the VVest may possibly be occasion'd from the great Magazine of vapors lodgd about the Island of Madagascar and the Coasts thereabout which are reflected from thence by the Advent of the Sun into the Tropique of Capricorne for VVinds are both the result of rarefaction and condensation also and the rarify'd vapors not only cause a more vehement Protrusion of the Air after their dilatation but being over much compress'd in one quarter as often by the Elasticall power thereof beget a Reverse VVind in retiring to their former places So that there can scarce be a moments rest in the Universe the Atmosphere being as one continued scene of Action and Passion that I believe the Air even in the calmest days is almost every where Agitated at least by some insensible Wind. But thus farre of their distinct Species and particularly of the Monsoons In relation to their Qualities I before rejected the Hot and Dry Exhalations as too narrow and insufficient to resolve the innumerable Phaenomena of VVinds for they consist no lesse of Omnigenous Vapors Salts and Mineralls with other different species of matter and we must expect their Qualities to be Various as they have greater or lesse Allays of such Bodys Some of them are Corrosive others Suffocating and Pestilentiall they are sometimes Hot and then Cold from the same Quarter and so successively capable of all Qualities and Extremes according to the Diversity of their Constituent parts or Mediums in which they blow This might appear from many obvious Experiments Let them pass thorough a Tunnell or Pipe of a convenient length but much wider at one end then the other that it may give free admission to the Air in the cavity of which strew severall sorts of Aromatics and odorous herbs such as Thyme Roses Violets c. then let it be stuck in the wall of some house expos'd to the open fields with the larger end obverted to the VVinds and the lesser so plac'd to conveigh them into the house somewhat after the manner of the Italian Ventiducts and you shall have the whole roome perfumed with a pleasant and agreable smell but instead of these if you put in herbs or mineralls with Virulent Deleterious Qualities you shall have some complaining of their heads others seas'd with Lipothymies and inclin'd to sleepe when the stupefactive fumes enter together with the VVinds and surprise the Spirits The same we may conclude of all such whose component particles are either noxious in themselves or make their entry through unwholesome places which are stord with Antimony Mercury or other Putrid and Arsenicall vapors I made diverse tryalls of this nature instead of common Water I fill'd the Aeolipile with water distill'd from roses which generated VVinds with a very gratefull Perfume afterwards I experimented the same with severall sorts of liquids I likewise cast in Camphire and then small shavings of Juniper Wood into the Aeolipile that sent out flatulent steams according to the nature of the bodys injected which makes it evident that the Qualitys of VVinds are oftentimes deriv'd from their Constituent particles But as to the Medium through which they passe I judg'd the use of the Aeolipile by no means suitable to my design in discovering their degrees of heat or cold the Winds generated therein being actually hot before so I caus'd to be made a Tinne pipe about 4 foot long which I fitted to the nose of a pair of bellows and covering it with a mixture of snow and ice perceiv'd the. VVind which pass'd through the pipe to be very excessively cold but because our Organs are not all ways equally dispos'd nor indeed are they sufficient Criteria to be rely'd on in such nice cases I therefore made use of an Hermetically-Seal'd VVeather-glasse and blowing thereon found a very visible alteration in the liquor of the Weather-glasse which being ventilated from the same bellows wrought no such effect before the Frigorific mixture was apply'd I afterward heated the Pipe in the Fire through which the Winds should passe and there came forth an exceeding Hot blast So farre upon all accounts may the Disposition of the Medium influence the Transient Winds If wee further enquire upon what account Winds thus farre sympathize with their Mediums wee must acknowledge it to be no dreame of the Epicureans that continuall effluviums doe issue from all materiall concretes And the Winds not only bear off with them those particles which are already disengag'd from their textures but help to loosen others that ther 's scarce any Body so solid which pays them not some tribute as they passe Those which have made no farre excursions from their Fountains cannot be much adulterated in the way and so preserve their first Qualitys entire But the Travelling Winds that arrive from remote Countrys and drive before them different species of Air and mingle with other Heterogeneous exhalations in their passage they are at last quite overcome by them and so farre influenc'd by their long entercourse with the medium that they almost Universally borrow their Temperament and Propertys from thence The Winds in Italy which blow over the groves of Myrtle doe often perfume the Air for many miles and in those Countrys where the Rosemary grows wild in the fields the smell thereof has been carry'd a considerable distance from their Coasts The Levants are accounted Soultry and troublesome in Spain yet on the shoars of Murcia where they come off the Mediterranean they are agreable and pleasant The Tramontanas at Rome are often more piercing then the sharpest North Winds either in England or France because they blow from the Snowy mountains And I might instance in a remarque out of Captain James The Southerly Wind was then coldest the reason I conceive to be for that it did blow off the Main Land which was all cover'd with Snow and the N. Winds came out of the Bay which was hitherto open I conclude that VVinds have more frequently their Qualitys from the Places or Mediums through which they passe or at least from the Fountains that gave them birth then from the Quarters which are reputed Hot or Cold or otherwise qualify'd for producing such Winds As in Holland and the lower parts of Germany they have very often colder weather with the Midland VVinds though from the South then with the N. or N. E. which passe over the Sea and mingle with the tepid vapors of the Ocean The Southern Blasts to us here in England are accounted noxious