Very different breadths, and where they
stretch away more or less towards the poles.
It is known, that in the passage from Santa Cruz to Cumana, as in
that from Acapulco to the Philippine Islands, seamen are scarcely
ever under the necessity of working their sails. We pass those
latitudes as if we were descending a river, and we might deem it no
hazardous undertaking if we made the voyage in an open boat.
Farther west, on the coast of Santa Martha and in the Gulf of
Mexico, the trade-wind blows impetuously, and renders the sea very
stormy.* (* The Spanish sailors call the rough trade-winds at
Carthagena in the West Indies los brisotes de Santa Martha; and in
the Gulf of Mexico, las brizas pardas. These latter winds are
accompanied with a grey and cloudy sky.)
The wind fell gradually the farther we receded from the African
coast: it was sometimes smooth water for several hours, and these
short calms were regularly interrupted by electrical phenomena.
Black thick clouds, marked by strong outlines, rose on the east,
and it seemed as if a squall would have forced us to hand our
topsails; but the breeze freshened anew, there fell a few large
drops of rain, and the storm dispersed without our hearing any
thunder.
