xplain it to
others.

IN some Parts of the World, and especially between the Tropicks, the
Winds are regular, and therefore our Philosophers seem to talk more
rationally about them. But in our Northern Countries the Alterations of
the Wind are so frequent, sudden, and often so little agreeable to the
Season, that such general Reasonings will by no Means serve to explain
them. It is however very reasonable to suppose that the same general
Cause prevails here as between the Tropics, but with less Certainty,
because the Power of the Sun is not so great, and the Determinations of
the Winds depend on the Situation of Mountains, Rocks, and Woods, which
direct the Air driving against them into certain Courses, so that it is
impossible to explain, or indeed to judge of the Course of the Winds
till the Country is thoroughly known, and all those Eminences that can
affect the Winds are well considered.

FROM these Reflections the Value of our Shepherd's Observations will
clearly appear. He was not Philosopher enough to talk in this Style,
but by a long and steady Attention he came to know, experimentally,
what perhaps few Philosophers, with all their Sagacity, would have been
able to have found out.

XV.

S. W. WINDS. _After a northerly Wind for the most Part two months
or more, and then coming South, there are usually_
three or four fair Days at first, and then, on the fourth
or fifth Day, comes Rain, _or else the Wind turns North
again_, and continues dry.

THIS is likewise a very judicious and very useful Observation, and yet
it is not a difficult matter to account for it. It is a common
Observation, and a very true one, that there is usually fair Weather
before a settled course of Rain. The Winds that bring the dark rainy
Clouds that obscure the Sky, and cause dull cloudy Weather, often raise
these Vapours to such a height, that they are attracted into the cold
Region above our Sight, till being condensed there, they fall down upon
us again in Snow or Rain, according to our Author's Observation.

BUT if, after a seeming Tendency to Rain, there follow several Days of
fine Weather, it is a certain Indication that the Temper of the Air is
altered, and that these Vapours had been driven off before they had
time to condense, which is confirmed by the Change of the Wind on such
Occasions.

ALL these Observations are to be understood in a proper Latitude, and
not strictl