The further we left the African coast behind the weaker the wind became: it was often completely calm for hours, followed regularly by electrical phenomena. Thick black perfectly shaped clouds formed in the east; it seemed as if a squall might force us to fasten the topsail; then the wind would rise again, a few large raindrops would fall, and the storm would vanish without a single clap of thunder. It is thanks to these squalls alternating with dead calms that you are able to cross the ocean from the Canaries to the West Indies during June and July.