winds that rule the seas, the north and south directions are of no
importance. There are no North and South Winds of any account upon
this earth. The North and South Winds are but small princes in the
dynasties that make peace and war upon the sea. They never assert
themselves upon a vast stage. They depend upon local causes--the
configuration of coasts, the shapes of straits, the accidents of
bold promontories round which they play their little part. In the
polity of winds, as amongst the tribes of the earth, the real
struggle lies between East and West.



XXVI.



The West Wind reigns over the seas surrounding the coasts of these
kingdoms; and from the gateways of the channels, from promontories
as if from watch-towers, from estuaries of rivers as if from
postern gates, from passage-ways, inlets, straits, firths, the
garrison of the Isle and the crews of the ships going and returning
look to the westward to judge by the varied splendours of his
sunset mantle the mood of that arbitrary ruler. The end of the day
is the time to gaze at the kingly face of the Westerly Weather, who
is the arbiter of ships' destinies. Benignant and splendid, or
splendid and sinister, the western sky reflects the hidden purposes
of the royal mind. Clothed in a mantle of dazzling gold or draped
in rags of black clouds like a beggar, the might of the Westerly
Wind sits enthroned upon the western horizon with the whole North
Atlantic as a footstool for his feet and the first twinkling stars