Page:Physical Geography of the Sea and its Meteorology.djvu/461

Rh I do not take into this comparison the force of the N.E. trades on a S.S.E. course (§ 813), because the winds along this route are known not to be as steady as they are farther away from the African coast. Thus it is clearly established that the S.E. trades are stronger than the N.E., and so they should be if there be a crossing of winds in the calm belt of Capricorn.

816. Ditto of the counter-trades.—The counter-trades of the southern hemisphere move, as before stated, towards their pole more steadily and briskly than do the counter-trades of the northern hemisphere. To give an idea of the difference of the strength of these two winds, I cite the fact that vessels sailing through the latter, as from New York to England, average 150 miles a day. Along the corresponding latitudes through the former, as on a voyage to Australia, the average speed is upwards of 200 miles a day. Consequently, the counter-trades of the southern hemisphere transport in given times larger volumes of air towards the south than our counter-trades do towards the north. This air returns to the tropical calm belts as an upper current. If, descending there, it feeds the trade-winds, then, the supply being more abundant for the S.E. trades than for the N.E., the S.E. trades must be the stronger; and so they are; observations prove them so to be. Thus the crossing of the air at the tropical calm belts, though it may not be proved, yet it is shown to be so very probable that the onus of proof is shifted. It now rests with those who dispute the crossing to prove their theory the true one.