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Show I 4 6 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA: The winds in every part of the country make a prodigi~us differen ce in the te perature of the air. When the north-well: wmd blows, the heat is ahv:1y found more tol -rable than with any other, although the t I1 ennomen:r {] wu ld 1u• ••1 t tl1c f.1mc heirbr ht • This ' ind is uncommonly dry, and bri 1gs with it frdh animation and vigour to evc':J living thing. Althou o-b this wincl is io very piercing in winter, yet I thmk the people never c~mplain {; much of cold as wl en the north-cafl: wind blows; 'for my own part I never found the air io agreeable, let the feafon of the year be what it would, as with the north-wefl: wind. The north-eall: wind is alfo cold, but it renders the air raw and damp. That from the fouth-cafl: is damp but warm. Rain r fnow ufually falls w~en th.e wind comes from <"tny point towards the cafl:. The fouth-wdl: wmd, hke th north-wcfl:, is dry; but it is attended generally with warm weather. When in foutherly point, gufts, as they are called, that is, ftonns attended with thunde r, lightning, hail, and rain, are common. It is a matter of no diD1culty to account for thefe various effeCts of the winds in America. T he north-weft wind, from coming over fuch an imm nfc tract of land, mu fl: necefiarily be dry; and coming from regions eternally covered with mounds of fnow and ice, it muft alfo be cold. The north-eafl: wind, from traverfing the frozen feas, muH be (old likewife ; but from paHing over fuch a large portion of the watry main afterwards, it bring· damps and tnoifl:ures with it. All thofe fr m the eafi are damp, and loaded with vapours, from the fame caufe. Southerly winds, from eroDing the warm regions between the tropics, are attended with heat; and the fouth-weft wind, from palling, like the north-wefl:, over a great extent of land, is dry at the fame time; n ne however is fo dry as that from the north-weft. It is faid, but with what truth I cannot take upon me to fay, that weft of the Alleghany and Appalachian mountains, which are all in the fame range, the fouth-w .0: winds are cold and attended with rain. Thofe great extremes of heat and cold, obfcrvable on the eafiern fide of the mountains, are unknown to the weft ward of them. •• [ 147 ] LETTER XIX. T'ravclling in America ·witbortt a C'ompanio;i not pletifant.-Mt·et tw1 Euglifo Gent!emen.-Sct out togctf,er for C'anada.-Difcription q( tb~ Country between Philaddpbirt and Nnv York.-Br!Jlo!.-'l'rentou.~ Pri'rzcetorz.-Co!!t'ge there .-Some Accou11t qf' it .-Brwifwick.-Pqfa:'!: lf/ater-:fa/1.-Copper Mtite.-Stizgular Difcovery thereo/:-New York. -Dif;ription q/ the City .-CI.itl?'af!er and JJ~ mners qfthe Inhabitant;. -Lea'Ve it abruptly on Acl:ozmt of the Fcvers.-Pq/)ctgc up North River from N c•w York to Albarzy.-Grcal Beauty qj' the North River. -Wejf Poiozt.-Highlarzds.~Gt!Jls qf Wind common in pqfji'ng tbem.Lllbany.- Dtfcnption qf the City and lnhabitants.--Ct'/, brati?n qf tht 4tb of Ju!y.-Anuiverjctry qj'American lnde;mdmcr. MY DEAR SJR, Albany, July. 1 Was on the point of leaving Philadelphia for New York, intending from thence to proceed to Canada, when chance brought me into the company of two young gentlemen from England, each of whom was feparately preparing to fet ofF on a firnilar excurfion. A rational and agreeable companion, to whom you might communicate the refult of your obfervations, and with whom you might interchange fentiments on all occalions, could not but be deemed a plealing acguifition, I fhould imagine, by a perfon on a journey through a foreign land. Were :1ny one to be found, however, of a different opinion, I {hould venture to affirm, that ere he travelled f.·u through the United States of America, where there are fo few inhabitants in proportion to the extent of the country; where, in going from one town to another, it is frequently neceffary to pars for many miles together through dreary woods; and where, even in the towns, a few of thofc fea-ports indeed excepted which are op n to the Atla11tic, there is f11 h £unenefs in the cufloms, manners, and converfation of the inhabitants, and fo little amongfi them that intercfl:s either the head or the heart; h woulcl not only be induced U 2 to |