The trade-winds also cease at a considerable distance from the eastern coasts of Asia, and in the tract of sea bordering on these coasts they are replaced by variable winds blowing generally from north-west, south-west, and south-east. Along the coasts of Australia the winds are very variable.
In the region south of the trade-winds the weather and the turn and succession of the winds are remarkably uniform. North-westerly winds prevail, bringing clouds and rain in abundance. South-westerly winds succeed them, and partially clear the sky with their fury; then the wind moderates, and blows from the south-east quarter, where, after a short interval of fine weather, it dies away. Light airs spring up from the north-east, freshening as they wear round to the north, but soon shifting to the usual quarter, north-west; and between that point and the south-west they shift back sometimes for weeks before they take another turn round. It never blows hard from east, rarely with any strength from north-east, but occasional gales may be expected in winter (between June and August) from south-east. Heavy tempests blow from west-north-west to south-west. In the region north of the trade-winds the winds usually blow from the south-west and west, and frequently in gales. When not strong they are accompanied with heavy fogs. In the subordinate basins along the coasts of Asia—the Yellow, Japanese, and Okhotzk seas—easterly winds are rather prevalent We turn now to the Currents of the Pacific. Near the southern polar circle a considerable portion of the surface of the ocean is in motion at first towards the north, or north-east, and forms a current of cold water known as the Antarctic Current, or Antarctic Drift Current North of 60° S. lat. it turns more to the east, and seta towards the coast of South America, where about the parallel of Chiloe it divides into two branches, the southern of which runs off southward, and continues along the southern coasts of Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn westward, round which it passes with an average rate of a mile an hour, and joins probably the South Atlantic Connecting Current. This is known as the Cape Horn Current As the current acts rather from the land, it diminishes the dangers which attend the navigation along such a rocky coast. But the current is not wide, and from 20 to 30 miles from the land it is hardly perceptible. The northern branch of the Antardio Current is known as the Peruvian or Hum boldt'a Current, and runs northward along the western coast of America as far north as Punta de Farina, or Cape Blanco (near 5° S. lat.). The current extends about 100 mike from the coast, and is of moderate velocity, generally not exceeding a mile an hour. It is remarkable on account of the cold water which it carries from the south to the north ; and it is doubtless to this current that Peru owes its comparatively cool climate. The difference the the temperature of the water within the current and that of the surface of the ocean without the onrrent is considerable. At Callao the former indicates
62° Fehr., whilst in the same latitude, but about 300 miles from the coast, the temperature of the sea is between 77° and 80° Fahr. From the Punta de Parifta the current recedes from the coast, running off in a north-western direction to the islands of Galapagos, enlarging in width, but increasing in velocity to from 2 to 5 miles an hour. Though the current has now reached the equator, its temperature has not increased. Along the southern shores of Albemarle Island, one of the Galapagos, Captain Fitzroy found that the thermometer immersed iu the sea only indicated 60", while on the northern shores it stood at 80°. The low temperature of the water is believed to be the cause of no coral-reefs being found about the Galapagos, the coral insects being unable to sustain so great a degree of cold. From the Galapagos the current runs westward towards the centre of the ocean, and mingles imperceptibly, somewhere about 107° 30' W. long., with the southern portion of the great mass of inter-tropical waters, having a constant westward motion, and known as the Great Equatorial Current The Great Equatorial Drift Current flows on both aides of the line, forming a belt 3000 miles wide. But it is divided into a southern and a northern branch, which are separated by a counter current flowing in the opposite direction. The southern branch, or South Equatorial Current, for it would be more correct to view the two so-called branches as two distinct currents, has its southern limit about 26° S. lat. Its general flow is north of west, and it has its greatest velocity towards its western end. On its southern side among the Archipelagoes its drift is considerably disturbed, in some places, as among the Feejeo group and the Salomon Islands, it being diverted even eastward. A portion of the current, which off the New Hebrides sets off strongly to the north-west, is called Rossel's Drift by German geographers, but it scarcely appears needful to. regard it as a distinct current. The northern part of the South Equatorial Current seems to pass by New Guinea and into the Indian Ocean. The southern part striking valued Australia by Moreton Bay, la diverted southward and forme what has been called the Austrelian Current It sweeps round the soutb-eastern coast of Anstralia at the rate of one to two miles an hour, but at the southern extremity of the coast terns east to the island of New Zealand, which again turns It to the north. It thus appears to rotate between New Zealand and Australia, maintaining a high temperature, while the interspace, in which no distinct current is found, Is the favourite • middle ground' of the whalers of Australia and New Zealand. On the south of Van Diemen'. Land is a warm drift current, which appears to be a connecting current between the Pacific and ludlan Oceans, corresponding to the Southern connecting current of the Atlantic.