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Show DISSERT. III. "--v--J H I S T 0 R Y 0. F M E X I C 0. countries in America more cold than. others of the old continent equi-. difl:ant from the equator, there are alfo otl:ers m?re ~ot. Agra, t~e: t.-apital of Mogul, and the port of Lo1~etto m Ca~tfor.ma~. are nearly 111 the fame Iati tude, and !bill the heat of that Afiauc c1ty. 1s not com pa-. rnble to that of the Amer:ican port. Hue, the capital of Cochinchina and Acapulco1 are almo!l: equidiftant from the eqpator, and, yet the air of Hue is cool. in comp~rifon of that of Ac~pulco .. That other propofition Gf Mt:. de Paw IS e.quallY. fulfe .and 1mpro-. bable, namely, that in the center of the .tornd z~ne the.l1quo.r ~f the thermometer does not rife to fo great a he1ght as tt does m Pans In the gr atcfi: heat of fummcr.. If that was tru~ the difference between the, American and European climates would· not be only twelve degrees, as. Mr. de P. would make it, but forty-nine, that is as much.as the difference of latitnde between the center of the torrid zone and Paris. It js true; that according to the obfervations made in ~ito and comprred with thofe made in Paris, the heat of that equinoctial city J1ever. equals. that of Paris in the fum mer; but it i& equally• cert:tin, that, according to the obferva.tions made by the fame academicians with the fume thermometers, in the city of Carthag~na,, which is not the cen-. ter of the torrid zone, but ten. degrees from it, that the ufual heat of this city is equal to the greatefi: heat of Paris, agreeaWe to the tefl:i-. mony. of Ulloa, one of the obfervers. (z) .. 1 here are. many r.eafons, befides vicinity to or difl:ance from the. equator, which make a country hot ~J cold. The elevation of the foil, the neighbourhood of fome lofty mountain covered with fnovy, , abundance of rains,. &.c. contttibute much to . the coolnefs of th~ ~tmofpheret-; and, on the contrary, low ground, fcarcity of water, . drowths, &c. mufl: increafe the heat. Cividad Retl{, the capital of the diocefe of Chiapa, becaufe. it is fituated. on,a high ground, . is cool; and1 the city of Chiapa,. of the Indians, at a little diilance. fr9m it, is e>[,tremely hot, becaufe it is fituated very low. Chachicomula, a larg,e , ' 'illage, fituated at the foot of the ver~ lofty, mo\l ~a,\n ~Oz,iz~pll,, ,i$- 1 • (z) In the year 1735, at Carthagena, the liquor of the thermometer of Reaumur kept at 102d, without any variation, except that 'fomctimes it fell to 1024; or rofe to 1016. AtParis, the f:1me re~r, it never rofe higher than 1025~, in the gre:ue!t hents of July. and Auguft, 'Ulloa Rtllzrion dtl Vil/ge 'n Ia .Am.crira Merit!iotl(ll, part i. tO.tn 1. , · ·' cool, :f{ I. S T 0. R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. ~ool, but Vera Cruz, placed ~n the f~me latitude, is very hot i and what is mere, the air of Cividaq R~al is coo,l in the latitude of 16 i·, and that of Loreto, in California, in lat. 2 s:f, is very hot. The obfervations made by M. de Paw convince · us that the climate of .A.111erica is not f.o various as that of Europe; that the inhabitants of the new world are not like thofe of the greater part of Europe, obliged to endure the alternate extremes of exceffive cold, and intolerable heat. The more uniform a climate, the more eafily are men familiarized to it, and efcape thofe pernicious effects which follow a viciffitude of feafons. In ~ito the thermometer does not rife (o high as it does in Paris in the fummer; but neither does it fall fo low as it does in the temperate climes of Europe in winter. What can be more defirable in a climate than a temperature of air which is equally di.{l:ant from either extreme, fuch as that of ~ito, and the greater part of Mexico? What climate more fwcet and kind to life than that in which the delights of the country are enjoyed all the year, and the earth is continually adorned with herbs and flowers; where the fields are covered with corn, and the trees loaded with fruit ; the herd~ and the flocks fpare man his fatigues, and have no need of his provifion to maintain them, or his roof to refifl: the inclemency of the we£ .. ther; p~ither [now I}Or froft cc;>,mpel him to keep near a .fire, nor d~ burning heats in fummer check his increafe; but confl:antly experiencing the bounty of nature towards him, he enjoys equally in all feafons the ·focial converfe of his fellow-creatures, or the innocent recre: I ations of the country. This is the idea entertained by man of a per-fect climate '; and the poets, therefore, when they fl:rove to extol the happinefs of certain countries, ufed to fay, that a perpetual fpring reigned in them; as Virgil faid of his Italy, (a) and Horace of .the Fortunate Ifles (b), tb which he invited his countrymen. Thus the ancients reprefcnted the ~lyfian fields ; and alfo in the Holy Writings, in order to convey fome ideFt of the felicity of heavenly Jerufulcm, it js faid, that there, there is no heat nor cold. ( n) Hie ver affiduum. ntque albinis menfibus ~:!las; Bis gravida pecudes, his pomis utilis arbos. Virg. Georg. ii. (h) V'er ubi longum, tepidafque pra:bet Jupiter brumas. Horat. lib. ii. ode 4• VoL. II. M m . .,. ' ' Acoil:01t 265 DISSERT. III. '-v--J |