204 HISTORY OF THE [BOOK. n. 



the ocean; on whose bosom a new and ever-moving 

 picture strikes the eye ; for innumerable vessels are 

 discovered in various directions, some crowding into, 

 and others bearing away from, the bays and harbours 

 with which the coast is every where indented. Such 

 a prospect of human ingenuity and industry, employ- 

 ed in exchanging the superfluities of the old world, 

 for the productions of the new, opens another, and I 

 might add, an almost untrodden field, for contempla- 

 tion and reflection. 



Tli us the mountains of the West Indies, if not, in 

 themselves, objects of perfect beauty, contribute 

 greatly towards the beauty of general nature; and 

 surely the inhabitants cannot reflect but with the 

 deepest sense of gratitude to Divine Providence, on 

 the variety of climate so conducive to health, sere- 

 nity and pleasure, which these elevated regions afford 

 them. On this subject I speak from actual experi- 

 ence. In a maritime situation, on the sultry plains of 

 the south side, near the town of Kingston, where I 

 chiefly resided during the space of fourteen years, the 

 general medium of heat during the hottest months, 

 (from June to November, both inclusive), w r as eighty 

 degrees on Farenheit's thermometer.J At a villa 

 eight miles distant a in the highlands of Liguanea, the 



J In the other months, viz. from December to May, the thermometer 

 ranges from 70 to 80 degrees. The night air in the months of December 

 and January is sometimes surprisingly cool : I have known the thermo- 

 meter so low at sun-rise as 69 degrees, even in the town of Kingston} 

 but in the hottest months, the difference between the temperature of noon- 

 day and midnight is not more than 5 or 6 degrees* 



