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To the northward of this, the winds were from the westward, accompanied by fine weather, during the day to the southward of that point, sometimes as far as south-west, and at night inclining to the northward of west; but generally speaking, we found the wind to the southward of west, and the current running from half a mile to a mile an hour to the north or N.N.E.

The currents between New Holland and Timor, are said to run to the westward during the easterly monsoon, and in the opposite direction with the westerly, but they seem to be influenced by every trifling change of wind, as on the 20th, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of December, (when the westerly monsoon might be supposed at its height,) we experienced light variable winds between south-east and E.N.E., during which period the current ran to the westward, at times a knot an hour. We were then between the parallels of 114° and 13°, south of which, we experienced winds between S.S.W. and west, until we were to the southward of the north-west Cape, when they became more southerly, and at times S.S.E., (in January.) Throughout all this period the weather was fine, and different from what was expected during the westerly monsoon.

All that part of the north-west coast of New Holland, between the north-west Cape and Cape Londonderry, appears to be very much subjected to light winds, particularly during the easterly monsoon, the strength of which is not felt to the southward of 13° or 14° of south latitude.

During the westerly monsoon, strong winds and gales from the northwest at times blow upon the coast, but they do not appear to be frequent.

The strongest winds at this season are the heavy squalls between E.S.E. and north-east, (and which may with propriety be termed hurricane squalls;) fortunately they are not of long duration, rarely lasting over two hours. They give ample warning of their approach, by the gathering of a heavy bank of clouds between north-east and south-east, and much lightning in that quarter. Appearances such as these, frequently precede the squall some days, but coming gradually nearer to the westward. The barometer shows no indication of approaching bad weather, being only acted upon by the immediate change. These squalls mostly occur in the night, or between sunset and sunrise.

During the latter part of the westerly monsoon, on that part of the coast between Cape Villaret and Point Swan, we found the weather remarkably fine, with the exception of an occasional short but severe squall from the eastward. During the day, there was generally a moderate sea breeze, between north-west and south-west, commencing in the forenoon, and lasting sometimes nearly until midnight, (on which occasions it blew strongest during the night.) During the other part of the 24th, the wind was light from the eastward, or calm. Capt. King experienced similar weather in August.

It was not until we had reached Point Swan, in latitude 16° 20' south, that we experienced any of the bad weather that is usually met with at this season of the year, a few degrees to the northward. It commenced in the last week of January, and continued until the middle of

February, during which period there were some strong gales from th westward, between north-west and south-west, accompanied by heav rain, thunder, and lightning; but although there was a good deal ‹ dirty weather, it was by no means constant, as there were occasiona intervals of fine weather, with moderate westerly winds. This was th only bad weather on this part of the coast during the season, that coul be said to be caused by the westerly monsoon, (if we except the E.S.E squalls that do not occur in the easterly mousoon.)

While this weather lasted the easterly squalls were quite suspended, and the heavy bank of clouds that had generally been noticed in the south-east, had dispersed for the time, but after the strong westerly breezes had ceased, the weather was generally fine, and the wind mostly from some western point; there were occasional showers, and the clouds in the eastern horizon resumed their threatening appearance, bringing some hard squalls and rain from that quarter. In the middle of March, (being the time when equinoctial gales are looked for in most parts of the world,) there were two or three days of squally unsettled weather, with rain, that seemed to terminate the season of the westerly monsoon. After the first of April, the weather was invariably fine, and the easterly squalls had ceased to trouble us;-land and sea breezes became regular, and the easterly monsoon had no doubt set in to the northward, the strongest breezes now were from south-east, but generally speaking, the winds were light near the land.

It does not appear that the westerly monsoon blows with any degree of regularity to the southward of the 13th degree of south latitude, although for some degrees south of that, the weather is influenced by it, and winds between W.N.W. and south-west will be experienced; and from the appearances on many parts of the coast, there are no doubt strong gales at times, from the westward, that send in a heavy sea.

During the easterly monsoon, the weather is fine on the north-west coast, particularly in the months of May, June, July, and August. This is, undoubtedly, the best time for visiting it,—land and sea breezes are regular, and the temperature is very agreeable.

The average range of the thermometer on that part of the coast, between the north-west Cape and the meridian of 120° east longitude, during the above-mentioned period was between 75° in the middle of the day, and 60° at night, (on board the ship,) and the general course of the wind as follows, viz.

About sunrise, or sometimes a little before that, a breeze, springs up between south and S.S.E., and draws to the eastward as the sun rises, rapidly increasing in strength, and between eight and eleven A.M., often blows a fiery breeze; towards noon it moderates, and rarely lasts until 2 P.M., after which there is a light breeze from north-east, which at times reaches to the north; the nights are mostly calm, or a light breeze from the south-westward. At the full and change of the moon, we found the south-easterly winds stronger than at other times; dews at times very copious.

All this part of the coast is subject to the effects of mirage, by which its outline is at times very much distorted, but generally speaking, it ceases with the strength of the breeze, and as the sun attains a little altitude. When the effect of mirage was observed in the morning, I

noticed that the winds were much lighter throughout the day than usual.

During this part of the year the atmosphere is clear, with a cloudless sky, and the coast is exempted from the violent E.S.E. squalls that are of frequent occurrence, while the sun is in the southern hemisphere, and the land consequently very much heated.

Towards the latter end of August, and in September, the winds are not quite so regular, and there are occasional intervals of two or three days of westerly winds.

That part of the north-west coast, between the north-west Cape and the 116th degree of east longitude, seems to be subject to westerly winds, at all times of the year. The prevailing southerly winds that blow along the west coast, appear to draw round the Cape, and follow the direction of the land. Between April and October, (when the easterly monsoon is blowing to the northward,) they are generally to the southward of west, or between that point and south-west; but during the westerly monsoon between west and north-west.

Upon getting to the westward of the north-west Cape, the wind becomes more southerly, and draws to the eastward of south, as the distance from the land increases, and will be found varying between S.S.E. and E.S.E.,-generally speaking, as far south as the parallel of 30° of south latitude; after which, it is mostly to the westward of south, so that ships making a passage to the southward, along the west coast of New Holland, will rarely be able to make any easting, before reaching that latitude, particularly during the summer months. In the winter, a ship may occasionally make a quick passage to the southward, if happening to be upon the coast during a northerly gale, and as all these gales are preceded by north-east winds, a sufficient offing may be gained, to enable her to run on, when the winds get to the southward of west.

ON THE MOST SEASONABLE TIMe for Felling Timber.

[From the Philosophical Transactions.]

The custom of felling timber in the south of England differs from that of Staffordshire, only in two things, viz.-In the time of felling, and manner of barking. It being felled here in the spring, as soon as the sap is found to be fully up, by the trees putting out, and then barked after the trees are prostrate, the sap yet remaining in their bodies; whereas there it is first barked, (in the spring as here) but before it is felled, the trees yet living and standing all the summer, and not felled till the following winter, when the sap is fully in repose.

Now in the spring season, and some time after all the trees are pregnant and spend themselves, as animals do in their respective offsprings, in the production of leaves and fruit, and so become weaker than at other times of the year; their cavities and pores being then turgid with juice, or sap, which the trees being felled at that time still remain in the pores, having no way of being otherwise spent, and then they putrify, not only leaving the tree full of these cavities, which render the timber ENLARGED SERIES.-NO. 12.-VOL. FOR 1841.

5 K

weak, but breeding a worm, as testified by both Pliny and Mr. Evelyn, which will so exceedingly injure it as to become altogether unfit for great stress. Now all timber felled at this time of year, whether the juices putrify, or otherwise evaporate, or dry away, is not only subject to rift and gape, but to shrink so considerably, that a piece of such timber of a foot square, will usually shrink of an inch; than which says Vegetius, nothing is more pernicious if used for the building of ships. To which Julius Cæsar adds, that though ships may be made of such moist timber, felled in the spring, yet they will certainly be slugs, not near so good sailers as ships made of timber felled later in the year.

In all which circumstances most of the ancients so very nearly agree, that none of them advise the felling of timber for any sort of use before autumn at soonest; others not till the trees have borne their fruit, which says Theophrastus, must always be proportionably later, as their fruits are ripe later in the year: others not till mid-winter: not November says Palladius: nay, not till the winter solstice, says Cato; and then too in the decrease or wane of the moon, between the 15th and 23rd day of her age, says Vegetius; or rather according to Collumella, between the 20th and the new moon. In general says Theophrastus, the oak must be felled very late in the winter, not till December, as the emperor Constantinus Pogonatus positively asserts, the moon too being then under the earth, as it is for the most part in the daytime in the first part of its decrease. And the felling of oak within those limits, they call tempestativa cæsura, felling timber in season, which they all unanimously pronounce, if thus felled, it will neither shrink, warp, nor cleave, nor decay in many years; it being tough as horn, and the whole tree in a manner, as Theophrastus asserts, as hard and firm as the heart, with whom also agrees Mr. Evelyn. If you fell not oak, he says, till the sap is in the rest, as it is commonly about November and December, after the frost has well nigh nipped them, the very saplings thus cut will continue without decay, as long as the heart of the tree.

And the reason of this is briefly given by Vitruvius, because the winter air closes the pores, and so consequently consolidates the trees; by which means the oak, as he and Pliny both express it, will acquire a sort of eternity in its duration; and more so if it be barked in the spring, and left standing all the summer, exposed to the sun and wind, as is usual in Staffordshire and the adjacent counties; by which they find, by long experience, the trunks of the trees so dried and hardened, that the sappy part in a manner, becomes as firm and durable as the heart itself.

And though this way of barking and felling of timber were unknown to the ancients, as perhaps it is to all the world except those few counties, yet they seem not unacquainted with the reason of the practice; for Seneca observes, that the timber most exposed to the cold winds, is most strong and solid, and that therefore Chiron made Achilles' spear of a mountain tree, Homer also tells us that the spear of Agamemnon was made of a tree so exposed; for which Didymus gives for reason, that being continually weather beaten, it becomes harder and tougher. And Pliny says expressly as much for the sun, as they for the wind, viz:-That the wood of trees exposed to the sunshine is the most firm and durable; for which reason also it is, that Vitruvius prefers the timber on the south of the Appenine, (where it winds about and encloses

Tuscany and Campania, and strongly reflects the constant heats of the sun upon it, as it were from a concave,) incomparably before that which grows on the north side of the same hill in the shady moist grounds; and his reason is, that the sun not only exhales the superfinous moisture of the earth, whence the trees are supplied in such shady places with too great a quantity, but in great measure the remaining juices out of the trees themselves, rendering the timber of them the more close, substantial, and durable; which certainly it would do much more effectually, if the bark were taken off in the spring of the year, as in Staffordshire where the people use this method for their timber, though but for private uses. And much more should it be done for so public a concern as the building of ships, where tough and solid timber is much more necessary than in ordinary. There is indeed an act of Parliament, 1 Jac. I, chap 22, which forbids felling timber for ordinary uses, in consideration of the tan; at any other time than between the 1st of April and last of June, when the sap is up and the bark will run. To which I readily answer, that perhaps the legislators did not consider that the bark might be taken off in the spring, and that the tree would live and flourish till the ensuing winter; so that though the tree be not felled till the winter solstice or January following, yet the tanner is not at all defeated of his tan, but has it in due season. And in that very act of parliament there was an exception of the timber to be used in ship building, which might be felled in winter, or any other time; as am told all the ancient timber remaining in the Royal Sovereign was, it being still so hard that it is no easy matter to drive a nail into it.

It is true indeed that the barking or peeling the tree standing, is somewhat more troublesome, and therefore rather more chargeable, than when they are prostrate; and that it is likely people have therefore usually felled their timber as well for shipping as other uses, in the spring of the year, for the sake of the more easy and cheap barking it, rather than any thing else. It is also true, that timber is harder to fell in winter, it being then so compact and firm that the axe will not make so great an impression as in the spring; which will a little increase the price of the felling and its sawing afterwards; but how inconsiderable these things are in comparison of the great advantage of this manner of felling is self-evident.

The greatest objection that can be urged against this practice, is, that if the timber be not felled till mid-winter or January, where it grows in coppices and woods, they cannot perhaps enclose their young sprigs so soon as some may imagine needful, and therefore they may be backward to fell their timber at that season. To which I answer, that the timber so felled in woods or coppices may be easily carried off, before the second spring, and so the prejudice be small; but what will quite remove this inconsiderable difficulty, is, that perhaps it may be expedient, that no timber whatever, growing in woods or coppices be at all bought for the King's yards, because that timber growing in such shady places, and so fenced from sun and wind, as timber in woods for the most part is, cannot be so good as that which comes from an exposed situation, such as it usually has in forests, parks, and hedge-rows, or open fields; where at least it is indifferent, if not better for the pro

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