Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 2.djvu/411

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Atlantic over which they blew, the name el Golfo de las Damas (the Ladies' Sea) because they rendered navigation so easy that a girl might take the helm. But, "gentle" as they are, they have a wide sweep, and, in the summer of the Northern Hemisphere, extend far beyond the Tropic of Cancer. They have often been distinctly felt at Madeira and the Azores (near the 40th parallel) in summer, and it is highly reason-able to suppose that they then fully reach the latitude of 40° N. The equatorial side of the northeast trade-wind belt, of course, vibrates with the sun. In summer it stretches along between the 10th and 12th parallels of north latitude, verging in August on the 13th parallel, and, according to one writer, occasionally the northeast trades at that season do not extend south of the 15th parallel of north latitude. Dampier, "the prince of navigation," as the English call him, gives the direction of the wind in the summer months, between the equator and 12° north, as south-southeast, south-southwest, and south-west.

The equatorial side of the northeast trade-wind belt in winter approaches very nearly to the equator, and may be located in January at least as far south as the latitude of 2° north.