About ten o'clock in the morning, a thick haze began to
rise in the eastern quarter, which by noon was become so thick, and
had spread so far, that it was with difficulty we got the sun's
meridian altitude; but the N.W. wind, which we had had for about a
fortnight, during which time the weather was generally fine and
pleasant, still continued to blow. In the afternoon we had some pretty
brisk showers, with which the N.W. wind died away, and it was calm
till eight o'clock in the evening, when a brisk steady gale sprung up
at S.E., and proved permanent." - W.
Mr F. has given some very valuable remarks respecting the trade-winds
but they are too long for this place. - E.
[8] "Our thermometer was now constantly between 70 and 80 degrees in
the morning; but the heat was far from being troublesome, as the fair
weather was accompanied by a strong pleasant trade-wind," - G.F.
[9] This is a very fit place for the following curious observations on
the formation of the low islands spoken of in the text. "All the low
isles seem to me to be a production of the sea, or rather its
inhabitants, the polype-like animals forming the lithophytes. These
animalcules raise their habitation gradually from a small base, always
spreading more and more, in proportion as the structure grows higher.
The materials are a kind of lime mixed with some animal substance.