Chapter XVI

_If it return to the South within a Day or two without Rain, and turn Northward with Rain, and return to the South, in one or two Days, as before, two or three Times together after this Sort_, then it is like to be in the South, or South West, two or three Months together, _as it was in the North before_.

_The Winds will finish these Turns in a Fortnight._

THIS may appear a little perplexed to an ordinary Reader, but a little Attention will make it very clear and plain; and whoever considers what mighty Uses may be made of the Foresight of Weather for a Month or two, will not think this Labour ill bestowed. I must confess I look upon these three Rules in Relation to the Wind as the most useful in the whole Collection. Especially to Farmers and Country People, to whom they are of the greatest Consequence.

BUT it is a common Thing for such People to say, what Certainty is there that these Rules will prove true, what Probability is there that the Wind should continue so long in one Quarter, and then so long in another, how shall we be satisfied that there is any truth in this; or, if we cannot be satisfied as to the Truth of it, why should we depend upon any such like Observations?

TO this I answer, that they may have reasonable Satisfaction given them on this Head. Some of our great Naturalists, who had kept Journals of the Weather for many Years, have found that the same Wind blows every Year very near the same number of Days, and that there is a regular Continuance of different Winds annually in every Country. For Instance,

At _Utrecht_ they blow thus,

The N. Wind 42 Days.
The N. W. 33
The W. 77
The S. W. 58
The South 33
The S. E. 26
The E. 53
The N. E. 43
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IT is a Thing plain to every Capacity, that a Journal or Diary of the Winds may be kept any where, and if from such a Journal it appears that a given Wind blows for a certain Number of Days, then it follows, that if these can be determined with Certainty, the Time of their blowing may also be determined, at least with great Probability, which is as satisfactory an Answer as can be justly expected, because it shews that there is just and rational Ground for confiding in such Observations, when confirmed by long Experience.