First edition of a rare geographical and meteorological treatise on the winds and weather in different places around the world, written by James Capper (1743-1825). Capper was a former colonel in the East India Company, but after his return to England, he devoted much of his time to meteorology. In his present Observations of the winds and monsoons, Capper especially concentrates on the winds and weather of the East Indies, the coast of India and the Arabian and Persian Gulf, using information he obtained by his own observations, some ships' logs and earlier publications. He also discusses the meteorology of the Mediterranean, including Greece and the climate between the Adriatic and the Archipelago. He describes in a very scholarly manner several kinds of winds, such as monsoons, hurricanes or the so-called "Sumyel", which is an east wind, and the "Harmattan", which is a land wind that also blows, according to Capper, in the Gulf of Guinea and along the other western coasts of Africa. He discusses their effect on the climate and the weather. Although he acknowledges in his preface that he borrows some information from other scholars, such as Bacon, Franklin, Bishop Watson, Kirwan "and other eminent philosophers", Capper also introduces a new hypothesis in this work, namely that hurricanes are a type of whirlwind. This makes Capper's Observations on the winds and monsoons not only a survey of what was already known about winds and weather in different parts of the world, supplemented with his own observations, but also an important original contribution - due to his own travels with the East India Company. Moreover, it gives a lively and extensive account of the direction of prevailing winds and the climate in different parts of the world, with particular detail for the Indian coasts and the Arabian and Persian Gulf.
Library stamp on the last page. Covers discoloured. Map slightly foxed. Otherwise in good condition. Lowndes, p. 369.