desert at all_?

These are pertinent questions, _and every one of them must be answered in
the negative_. The hypothesis is without foundation, and Professor's
Coffin's perplexity and astonishment must remain, until he abandons the
theory of rarefaction entirely. The winds which so perplex him are nothing
but the regular N. E. trades, made to originate on the coast and continent
of Africa, in summer, by the northern transit of the whole machinery. They
not only draw off from the desert coast, but they _blow over the desert
itself_ on to the ocean, and into the rainy belt upon the land, as we have
already seen, and the supposed vortex of rarefaction does not exist.

That the monsoons do not reach the desert is demonstrated by the tables of
Professor Coffin, and to set it at rest we will make the necessary
extracts. Commencing with the region from the equator to 5 deg. N., and from
10 deg. to 55 deg. W. longitude, we have the observed winds in proportion, as
follows, for July and August--the south-east trades prevailing, inasmuch
as the belt of rains is at this season situated further north.

LATITUDE 0 deg. TO 5 deg., LONGITUDE FROM GREENWICH 10 deg. TO 55 deg..

+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Course. | July. | August. | Course. | July. | August. |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
| North. | 0 | 0 | S. S. W.| 54 | 111 |
| N. N. E.| 8 | 2 | S. W. | 1 | 29 |
| N. E. | 6 | 2 | W. S. W.| 6 | 19 |
| E. N. E.| 27 | 16 | West. | 2 | 9 |
| East. | 31 | 20 | W. N. W.| 1 | 6 |
| E. S. E.| 120 | 96 | N. W. | 1 | 0 |
| S. E. | 216 | 276 | N. N. W.| 0 | 2 |
| S. S. E.| 218 | 443 | Calm. | 8 | 4 |
| South. | 69 | 279 |---------------------------|
| | | | Total | 768 | 1,314 |
+-------------------------------------------------------+

Here, it is evident that the S. E. trades are the prevailing winds, but
their course is variable.

Ascending to the region between 5 deg. and 10 deg. north latitude, and 10 deg. to 55 deg.
west longitude, the northern part of which at this season is covered by
the rainy belt; we find the monsoon, the S., S. S. W., and S. W. winds,
the prevailing ones in August, although the winds are variable, as usual
under the rainy belt.

+