A single instance is given of those sudden gusts and various currents of wind, which occur at some elevation in the atmosphere, and which are common to all climates. On a particularly fine day, my father having landed on the northern part of Charles’s island, incited by the same curiosity which led him on shore, ascended, though not without great difficulty and fatigue, a considerable elevation, the summit of which was not broader than a common table, and which shelved on one side as steep as the roof of a house, and on the other formed a mural precipice. Engaged in admiring the extensive prospect from an eminence of about two thousand feet, he scarcely noticed the advance of a very small cloud. Its rapid approach and peculiar form (having somewhat the appearance of a hand) at length excited his attention, and when it reached the place where he was seated in a calm air, a torrent of wind assailed him with such violence, that he was obliged to throw himself on his body and stick his hands and feet in the snow to prevent himself from being hurled over the tremendous slope which threatened his instant destruction. The cloud having passed, the air, to his great satisfaction, became calm, when he immediately descended by sliding down the surface of snow, and in a few minutes reached the base of the mountain in safety. The course of the seasons, as relates to prevailing winds, is as follows. In the spring months, north-east and east winds are frequent, with severe storms from these and other quarters. The storms from the north-east, east, and south-east, are generally the most violent. When they occur in March and April, they frequently continue without intermission for two or three successive days, and rarely subside till the wind veers round to the north or north-west. Storms, in the spring of the year, blowing from the south-east, generally change, before they abate, to the east, north-east, north, and north-west; but storms commencing at south-west or south, usually veer, before they subside, in the contrary direction, towards the north-west, and sometimes continue changing until their strength is spent in the north or north-east quarter. A storm beginning to blow from the western quarter seldom continues long; when it blows hard it commonly veers to the north or north-east, and it is observable that a very hard southerly or easterly gale is frequently succeeded within a few days by another from the opposite quarter. With the advance of the month of May, storms become less frequent, and the weather becomes sensibly better. The winds then begin to blow more frequently from the north-west; in June, the most common winds are north and north-west, south and south-west; and in July, south and south-westerly winds prevail. At this season, calms or very light winds also become frequent, and continue sometimes for several days together. In high northern latitudes, however, very heavy storms