286 JOHN LEDYARD. 



we found a considerable difference in the state of 

 the air. At night a heavy dew fell ; and we felt it 

 very chilly, and had recourse to our blankets, not- 

 withstanding we were in the hut. The next morn- 



o 



ing, when we came to enter the woods, we found 

 there had been a heavy rain, though none of it had 

 approached us, notwithstanding we were within two 

 hundred yards of the skirts of the forest. And it 

 seemed to be a matter of fact, both from the in- 

 formation of the natives and our own observations, 

 that neither the rains nor the dews descended lower 

 than where the woods terminated, unless at the 

 equinoxes or some periodical conjuncture, by which 

 means the space between the woods and the shore 

 is rendered warm and fit for the purpose of culture 

 and the vegetation of tropical productions. We 

 traversed these woods by a compass, keeping a 

 direct course for the peak, and were so happy the 

 first day as to find a footpath that tended nearly our 

 due course, by which means we travelled by estima- 

 tion about fifteen miles; and, though it would have 

 been no extraordinary march had circumstances 

 been different, yet, as we found them, we thought 

 it a very great one ; for it was not only excessively 

 miry and rough, but the way was mostly an ascent, 

 and we had been unused to walking, and especially 

 to carrying such loads as we had. Our Indian com 



