The private signal of the little vessel was unknown to any of the merchants, and it immediately attracted notice. The natives were perfectly astonished—they had never heard of such a feat before; and deemed it quite impossible that a mere fishing smack, worked only by four men, and commanded by an ignorant master, should plow the billows of the Atlantic, and reach the West Indies in safety—yet so it was. This relation justifies the title given by the Spaniards to the zone where the trade winds are constant, _el Golpo de las Damas_, the Sea of the Ladies, on account of the ease with which it may be navigated, the uniform temperature prevalent night and day, and its pacific aspect. [Illustration: =Commencement of the Monsoon.=] 2. _Monsoons._ These are periodical winds, which sweep the northern part of the Indian Ocean, changing their direction after an interval of about six months, and hence the term Monsoon, the Anglicised form of the Persic _mousum_, or the Malay _moossin_, signifying a _season_, referring to their periodicity. Avoiding all minute detail, we shall merely give the range, direction, and duration of these singular, yet highly useful currents, and that in a very general way. From 3° south of the equator to the northern shores of the Indian Ocean, including the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Chinese Sea, a south-west wind blows from April to October, and then a north-east wind sets in, and prevails through the next half year, from October to April. From 3° to 10° south of the equator a south-east wind blows from April to October, and a north-west during the succeeding six months. Without attending to local variations, these are the general phenomena. There is a _south-west_ wind prevailing north of the equator from April to October, and southward of this, through a certain space, at the same season, a _south-east_ wind. There is a _north-east_ wind north of the equator from October to April, and coincidently, a _north-west_ wind between 3° and 10° south of the line. The western boundary of the region of the monsoons is the African shore; its eastern limit is supposed to be about the meridian of 136° east longitude, which cuts the island of New Guinea; its northern confine is near the parallel of 27° north latitude, which intersects the Loo Choo islands; its southern extremity has been already stated. The monsoons are much stronger than the trade winds, and may be called gales, but they are by no means of uniform force, either as it respects themselves or each other, the same monsoon occasionally blowing with such violence that ships are obliged to reef their sails. It must not be imagined that these winds are confined to the ocean. They extend over the whole of Hindûstan to the Himalaya, the north-east monsoon bringing copious rains to its eastern shores, and the south-west monsoon performing the same office for its western coast.