CHAP, i.] WEST INDIES. 11 



certainly the finest winter on the globe. To valetu- 

 dinarians and persons advanced in lite, it is the climate 

 of Paradise. 



The account which I have thus given is, however, 

 to be received not as uniformly exact and minutely 

 particular; but as a general representation only, sub- 

 ject to many variations and exceptions. In the large 

 islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Jamaica, whose lofty 

 mountains are clothed with forests perhaps as old as 

 the deluge, the rains are much more frequent and vio- 

 lent than in the small islands to windward; some of 

 which are without mountains, and others without 

 wood; both powerful agents on the atmosphere. In 

 the interior and elevated districts of the three former 

 islands, I believe there are showers in every month 

 of the year; and on the northern coasts of those islands, 

 Considerable rains are expected in December or Janu- 

 ary, soon after the setting in of the north winds, 



/ 



Concerning the trade-wind, or diurnal sea-breeze, 

 which blows in these climates from the east, and its 

 collateral points, with little intermission or variation 

 nine months in the year, the causes of it having been 

 traced and displayed by numerous writers, it is unne- 

 cessary for me to treat; but the peculiarity of the land- 

 wind by night (than which nothing can be more grate- 

 ful and refreshing) has been less generally noticed. 

 This is an advantage, among others, which the larger 



O ' O ' O 



islands of the West Indies derive from the great ine- 

 quality of their surface; for as soon as the sea-breeze. 



