faces under the clouded skies,[1] impatiently trim the sails to the changing winds. However, the atmosphere generally becomes clear, and, contrary to expectation, the north-east wind comes from a clear sky; about the coming of the monsoon it is northerly. Now the clouds are again packed together; the wind dies away, but it will soon be waked up to come again from another point. Finally, the regular land and sea breezes gradually replace rain, and tempests, calms, and gentle gales. The rain holds up during the day, and in the Java Sea we have the east monsoon. It is then May. Farther to the south than the Java Sea the east monsoon commences in April.[2] This monsoon prevails till September or October, when it turns to become the west monsoon. It has seemed to me that the east monsoon does not blow the same in every month, that its direction becomes more southerly, and its power greater after it has prevailed for some time.[3]
707. Currents.—"It is sufficiently important to fix the attention, seeing that these circumstances have great influence upon the winds in the many straits of the Archipelago, in which strong currents run most of the time. Especially in the straits to the east of Java these currents are very strong. I have been unable to stem the current with eight-mile speed. However, they do not always flow equally strong, nor always in the same direction. They are probably the strongest when the tidal current and the equatorial current meet together. It is said that the currents in the straits during the east monsoon run eighteen hours to the north and six hours to the south, and the reverse during the west
- ↑ At sea the face and hands burn (change the skin) much quicker under a clouded than under a clear sky.—Jansen.
- ↑ In the north-east part of the Archipelago the east monsoon is the rainy monsoon. The phenomena in the north-east part are thus wholly different from those in the Java Sea.—Jansen.
- ↑ As is well known, the Strait of Soerabaya forms an elbow whose easterly outlet opens to the east, while the westerly outlet opens to the north. In the beginning of the east monsoon the sea wind (east monsoon) blows through the westerly entrance as far as Grissee (in the elbow); in the latter part of this monsoon, the sea-wind blows, on the contrary, through the easterly entrance as far as Sambilangan (the narrow passage where the westerly outlet opens into the sea).—Jansen.
equator more frequently than they do on the other? I have cruised a great deal on the southern hemisphere, and never saw a water-spout there. According to the log-books at the Observatory, they occur mostly on the north side of the equator.—Maury.
