Sea. ent meanings to the terms Windward and Leeward islands. XCIII. It is evident that the acceptation of this nautical phrase must depend on the position of the navigator, and on the Caribean tract which he proposes to follow. That part of the ocean between these islands, South America and the coasts of Mosquitos, Costa Rica and Darien, is called the Caribean Sea. It is navigated by trading vessels from most nations in Europe, and is remarkable on account of several phenomena. The first of these is the effect of a gentle motion impressed on the ocean by the equatorial currents from east to west, and impelled towards the American continent through the openings in the chain of the Less Antilles. Current of This uniform movement is not accompanied with much danger from the Canary islands to the mouth of the Oronoco. The ocean in these latitudes is so calm and so seldom subject to storms that the Spaniards have given it the name of the Ladies' Sea. It must not, however, be imagined that the motion is less rapid, because the waters are not agitated; the course of vessels is accelerated between the Canaries and South America; a direct passage is rendered impracticable from Carthagena to Cumana, and from Trinidad to Cayenne. the Gulf. The new continent forms a barrier from the isthmus of Panama to the northern part of Mexico against the sea's motion towards the west. The current changes its direction at Veraqua and bends into all the windings on the coasts of Mosquitos, Costa Rica, San Francisco and Tabasco. The waters, which flow into the Mexican Gulf, return to the ocean through the straits of Bahama; but their progress towards the main is retarded by an extensive eddy between Vera Cruz and Louisiana. These currents form what seamen have denominated the current of the gulf, which issues with great velocity from the Gulf of Florida, and, as its direction becomes diagonal, removes gradually from the coast of North America. If vessels sailing from Europe, and bound to this coast be ignorant of their situation, or cannot determine their longitude, they may steer castward after having reached the cur XCIII. rent of the gulf, the position of which has been ascertained by BOOK Franklin and Williams. The current changes its course to the east at the forty-first parallel, and increases in breadth, as its temperature and velocity are diminished. Before it passes the westmost of the Azores, it divides itself into two branches, one of which is impelled (at least in certain seasons of the year,) towards Norway and Iceland, and the other to the Canaries and western coasts of Africa. This contrary motion in the waters of the Atlantic ocean, accounts for trunks of Cedrellæ odoratæ being driven against the force of the trade winds from the coasts of America to those of Teneriffe. The temperature of this current, which flows with such rapidity from lower parallels into northern latitudes, is about two or three degrees of Reaumur higher on the banks of Newfoundland than that of the water near the shore, the motion of which, if contrasted with the velocity of the other, may be wholly disregarded. The Transparstillness of the Caribean Sea is occasionally disturbed by water. violent hurricanes and tempestuous gusts, which pass through the narrow openings in the chain of the Antilles. But the water in fine weather is so transparent, that the mariner can discern fish and coral at sixty fathoms below the surface. The ship seems to float in the air, and the spectator is often seized with vertigo, while he beholds through the crystalline fluid submarine groves or beautiful shells glittering among tufts of fucus and sea weed.* ency of the water Fresh water springs issue from the sea on both sides Fresh of the channel between Yucatan and Cuba. The form- Springs in er have been already described, the latter rise from the Sea. the bay of Xagua about three marine miles from the western coast of Cuba. They rush with so much violence out of the deep that it is dangerous for small vessels to approach them; boats have been dashed to pieces by the force of the surge. Ships on the coast sail sometimes for a supply of fresh water, which the seamen BOOK draw from the bottom of the ocean. The freshness of the XCIII. water too, as may easily be supposed, depends on the depth and rocks. from which it is drawn. Humboldt remarks that some of the fish in these springs have never been found in salt water.* Mountains There are mountains on all the larger islands of this Archipelago; but the highest are situated on the west of St. Domingo, the east of Cuba and the north of Jamaica; or on that part of the group, where these numerous islands approach nearest to each other. From a general survey of these mountains, their direc tion seems to be from north-west to south-east; but after examining minutely the best maps of each island, it is not difficult to discover in most of them a centre from which the rivers descend and the different mountains unite in a nucleus. The volcanoes, that have been observed at Guadaloupe, and some other islands, emanate from these central points, which are most commonly composed of granite in the Less, and of calcareous rocks in the Great Antilles. The geology of the West Indies is as yet very imperfectly known; it has been ascertained that the most extensive plains on the smaller islands are situated towards the eastern coast; but this remark cannot be applied to the Great Antilles and the Virgin islands. The greater number resemble only each other in their steep rocks, and in the abrupt transitions from the mountains to the plains, which are so remarkable in St. Domingo, that the French settlers have made use of a new wordt to denote these craggy heights. Coral or madrepore rocks are very common on the different coasts, it may perhaps be afterwards discovered that this substance has contributed as much to the formation of the Columbian Archipelago as to any of the islands on the great ocean. Cuba and the Bahamas are surrounded by * A. de Humboldt, Tableaux de la Nature, t. II. p. 235. Leblond, voyage anx Antilles. 1 more. and labyrinths of low rocks, several of which are covered with BOOK palm trees; and this fact tends to confirm our supposition, XCIII. for they are exactly the same in appearance as some of the coral islands in the Eastern Ocean. Most of the Antilles Climate are situated under the tropic of cancer, and there is not Season. much difference in their climate; accurate observations made on any one of them may be applied with little variation to them all. The spring begins about the month of May; the savannas then change their russet hue, and the trees are adorned with a verdant foliage. The periodical rains from the south may at this time be expected; they fall generally about noon, and occasion a rapid and luxuriant vegetation. The thermometer varies considerably; it falls sometimes six or eight degrees after the diurnal rains; but its medium height may be stated at 78° of Fahrenheit. After these showers have continued for a short period, the tropical summer appears in all its splendour. Clouds are seldom seen in the sky; the heat of the sun is only rendered supportable by the sea breeze, which blows regularly from the south-east during the greater part of the day. The nights are calm and serene, the moon shines morc brightly than in Europe, and emits a light that enables man to read the smallest print; its absence is in some degree compensated by the planets, and above all by the luminous effulgence of the galaxy. From the middle of August to the end of September the thermometer rises frequently above 90°, the refreshing sea breeze is then interrupted, and frequent calms announce the approach of the great periodical rains. Fiery clouds are seen in the atmosphere, and the mountains appear less distant to the spectator than at other seasons of the year. The rain falls in torrents about the beginning of October, the rivers overflow their banks, and a great portion of the low grounds is submerged. The rain that fell in Barbadoes in the year 1754, is said to have exceeded 87 inches. The moisture of the atmosphere is so great, that iron and other metals easily oxydated are covered with rust. This humidity continues under a burning sun;-the inhabitants, (say some XCIII. BOOK writers,) live in a vapour bath; it may be proved, without using this simile, that a residence in the lower part of the country at this season is disagreeable, unwholeso me and dangerous to an European.* A gradual relaxation of the system diminishes the activity of the vital functions, and produces at last a general atony. Diseases. Animals. The excitement of a warm climate occasions a consequent depression; Europeans, who reside a few years in the country, often lose the energy of their character, and it sometimes happens that their mental faculties are enfeebled. Putrid fevers are perhaps the most noxious diseases to which settlers are exposed; many of these maladies have hitherto baffled all the efforts of medicine; so little is known of the yellow fever that some physicians ascribe it to the miasma floating in the air, and others insist gravely that it originates from a certain unknown lunar influence. It has, however, been ascertained, that this disease is not contagious and that it does not occur so frequently in the mountainous districts. The advantage of removing patients to the high grounds is obvious, but from the rapid progress of the disease, this mode of treatment can be followed in very few cases. The temperate zone of the Antilles, as it has been sometimes called, begins about fourteen hundred feet above the level of the sea; many of the vegetables common to Europe grow in that part of the country, and the centigrade thermometer seldom reaches higher than 18° at noon. The mountains at the elevation of 4000 feet are covered with mist and subject to continued rains.‡ It has been observed by travellers that most of the wild animals indigenous to the West Indies are of a small size, as the Vespertilio molussus, the Viverra caudivolvula, and the Mus pilorides. Lizards and different sorts of serpents * Mémoire du Dr. Cassan, inséré dans les Mémoires de la Société médicale d'émulation, t. IV. Mémoires de M. Moreau de Jonnes, lus a l'Institut. + Princhard's Notes on the West Indies. Leblond, Traité de la Fievre jaune, p. 130. l'Institut. |