through tho whole extent of the continent. Tho most sultry regions in South America, Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, and Tucuman, lie many degrees to the east of the Magellanic regions.—The level country of Peru, which enjoys the tropical heats, is situated considerably to the west of them. The north wind, then, though it blows over land, does not bring, to the southern extremity of America, an increase of heat, collected in its passage over torrid regions; but, before it arrives there, it must have swept along the summit of the Andes, and come impregnated with the cold of that frozen region.” Another peculiarity in the climate of America, is its excessive moisture. In some places, indeed, on the western coast, rain is not known; but, in all other parts, the moistness of the climate is as remarkable as the cold. The most prevalent cause is the vast quantity of water in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with which America is environed on all sides. Hence, those places where the continent is narrowest are deluged with almost perpetual rains, accompanied with violent thunder and lightning, by which some of them, particularly Porto Bello, are rendered in a manner uninhabitable. This extreme moisture of the American climate is productive of much larger rivers there than in any other part of the world. The Danube, the Nile, the Indus, or the Ganges, are not comparable to the Mississippi, the river St Lawrence, or that of the Amazons; nor are such lakes to bo found any where as those which North America affords. To the same cause we ascribe the excessive luxuriance of all kinds of vegetables in almost all parts of this country.
