Page:Physical Geography of the Sea and its Meteorology.djvu/389

Rh that the climate of one is humid; that its valleys are, for the most part, covered with vegetation, which protects its surface from the sun's rays; while the plains of the other are arid and naked, and, for the most part, act like furnaces in drawing the winds from the sea to supply air for the ascending columns which rise from its over-heated plains. Pushing these facts and arguments still farther, these beautiful and interesting researches seem already sufficient almost to justify the assertion that, were it not for the great desert of Sahara and other arid plains of Africa, the western shores of that continent, within the trade-wind region, would be almost, if not altogether, as rainless and sterile as the desert itself.

677. A "Gulf Stream" in the air.—Lieutenant Jansen has called my attention to a vein of wind which forms a current in the air as remarkable as that of the Gulf Stream is in the sea. This atmospherical Gulf Stream is in the south-east trade-winds of the Atlantic. It extends from near the Cape of Good Hope, in a direct line to the equator, on the meridian of Cape St. Roque (Plate VIII.). The homeward route from the Cape of Good Hope lies in the middle of this vein; in it the winds are more steady than in any other part of the Atlantic. On the edges of this remarkable aerial current the wind is variable and often fitful; the homeward-bound Indiaman resorts to and uses this stream in the atmosphere as the European-bound American does the Gulf Stream. It is shaded on the plate.

678. Counterpoises.—These investigations, with their beautiful developments, eagerly captivate the mind; giving wings to the imagination, they teach us to regard the sandy deserts, and arid plains, the mountain ranges, and the inland basins of the earth, as compensations in the great system of atmospherical circulation. Like counterpoises to the telescope, which the ignorant regard as incumbrances to the instrument, these wastes serve as make-weights, to give certainty and smoothness of motion—facility and accuracy to the workings of the machine.

679. Normal state of the atmosphere.—When we travel out upon the ocean, and get beyond the influence of the land upon the winds, we find ourselves in a field particularly favourable for studying the general laws of atmospherical circulation. Here, beyond the reach of the great equatorial and polar currents of the sea, there are no unduly heated surfaces, no mountain ranges,