the Cape, which to the old navigators was truly a "Cabo de tormentos," instead of vainly trying to reach India by steering straight through the Mozambique Channel, the scientific navigator, disregarding the increase of distance, maintains his southern position, and sails resolutely along a parallel of latitude, with the west wind in his poop, till he has obtained such a degree of easting, that, on hauling up to the northward, and making for the south-east trade-wind, he enters that mysterious aërial current on such terms as ensure his making it serve his purpose. If, however, he be timid or impatient, and not duly instructed by experience, he will be very apt to haul up too soon to the northward, from not liking to run, as it appears, so far past his port. The consequence will be, that when he encounters the south-east trade-wind, he will find, instead of its being fair, that it is blowing in his teeth; and he will have to run back again to the southward to borrow a little more easting from the westerly breezes which prevail there.

Be it observed, however, that the above instructions would lead a seaman into great error, were he to make the rule absolute: for at certain seasons of the year, that is, when the sun is far to the north of the line, and the south-west monsoon blowing in the Indian Ocean, his proper course from the Cape to India would lead him up the Mozambique

Cannel between Madagascar and the mainland of Af: whence he would sail across the equator, and enter the Bay of Bengal with a flowing sheet. A: acier sensors, so far from having a fair wind on reaching Toda lhe may have to beat up the bay, aless de las kzowledge enough to know at which sble to enter it, and skill enough-for it requires a gic deal—so know how to profit by the land and sea breezes of the costs respectively of Coromande se of Fegu

Experience has taught us that the trade-winds. which at first were thought to be perfectly invarishe, are not only able to extensive modifications in fece and direction, according to the position of the sun, but that there are districts of the world. frequently supposed to ile within their influence. wiere zo such winds are to be met with, but where, at certain seasons of the year, winds blowing in a occtrary direction prevail. I may instance

the seat coast of Mexico, where the latitude is so ar that the trade-winds night naturally be locked for, but where the influence of the sun en the adjacent continent is so powerful, that the resulting efect is a westerly not an easterly wind In like manner, the land and sea breezes of many countries are modified by the proximity of hig or low land, combined with the presence or absence of the sun. But it is impossible in this

small space to enter into details which, after all, to
be really useful, must be studied in connexion with
those theories by which the course of all the
winds are explained. I may say, however, with
confidence, that nothing is so useful in the practice of
navigation as a constant attention to the statical
principles upon which all meteorological movements
depend; and although it will often happen that the
navigator may not be able to see how the applica-
tion is to be made, from a particular case to the
general law, he must profit greatly in the end by a
sound faith in what he knows to be right, even in the
teeth of what appears to be inconsistent therewith.

In short, the truly scientific navigator, possessed
of the requisite nautical instruments, by which
means he may at all times be certain of his
place, may almost command a fair wind at every
stage of his voyage, and thus secure his passage
within a certain number of days; though, in his
way, he will be obliged to vary his course a hun-
dred times from that which, at first sight, might
have been thought the best, merely because, on the
map, it seemed the shortest. The old proverb,
which warns us that the longest way about is often
the shortest way home, has perhaps its amplest illus-
tration in the practice of modern navigation; but,
let it be always borne in mind, that this is true only
when all the varying circumstances of time and

place are duly taken into account, and so appropriated as to give to the ship those advantages of fair wind and moderate weather, without which no voyage can be securely or speedily made. This branch of the art, therefore, more than any other, requires for its successful exercise a singular combination of the widest generalizations in theory, with the most minute and specific disintegrations of scientific research in practice. In the Indian seas especially, the whole history of the winds, examined without some theoretical clue, is a mass of confusion; and yet the profoundest meteorological science would inevitably prove not only useless, but absolutely dangerous to the navigator who should trust to it alone, without the aid of local information, and of the improvements of modern art.

These remarkable improvements are due to the spread of knowledge over the sea, as well as over the land: and I propose to examine a few of the causes which have led to such valuable results in the practice of seamanship, as they will all be found to fall readily under that great head, in a very general, but by no means superficial manner.

It will not be expected that much should be said of the mighty revolution in nautical affairs brought about by the introduction of steam; for that subject would require a separate volume. I shall merely observe, that steam does not essentially

interfere with seamanship proper, almost all the manipulations of which remain as before; whilst steam navigation, in spite of its boasted contempt of wind and tide, is still obliged to borrow so much from seamanship to complete its success, that without its aid it would often be useless, and even dangerous. I shall take occasion to point out some of the most remarkable circumstances in which the old system of seamanship is essential to the method by steam; merely remarking at present, that nearly all that branch of the subject which relates to navigation,—that is, to the method by which a ship's place is determined at sea, the proper course shaped, and the different ports of the world recognised and made use of,-remain exactly the same both in sailing and in steam vessels. Latitudes and longitudes, and the variation of the compass, are evidently just as important to a steam-vessel as to a sailing one and though winds and currents are not quite so essential, every one who has made a steam-voyage of any length is aware how materially its celerity depends upon a knowledge of and due attention to these particulars. It is one of the chief points of a seaman's duty to know where to find a fair wind, and where to fall in with a favourable current; but the obligation, if not generally so binding on a steam navigator, is almost equally so when his voyage is a long one. The most remarkable occa