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effects of difference of altitude in the same latitude, from the 

 sea-shore, to the verge of perpetual snow. 



The chain, or as it has been aptly called, the Great Wall 

 of the Andes, exerts a powerful influence on the climate of 

 the tract of country under consideration; the great atmos- 

 pheric current, which, according to the seasqn of the year, 

 flows to the north or south, and, in other parts of the same 

 continent, is affected by many local causes that give rise to 

 variable winds, is here maintained in its original direction by 

 the influence of this elevated barrier. During a great part 

 of the year, a southerly wind prevails to the west of the 

 Andes, and in summer it frequently blows with great 

 violence on the coast of Chili; but it always brings a clear 

 sky ; it gradually moderates towards the north, and is only 

 a light breeze when it reaches the coast of Peru. At the 

 season when the sun approaches the Northern Tropic, the 

 force of the south wind abates, and gales are experienced 

 from the opposite point of the compass, accompanied by rain. 

 The average duration of the rainy season is about five 

 months, from the middle of May to the middle of October. 



In the south of Chili the rains are very heavy, and fall at 

 short intervals throughout the winter, which is there some- 

 times of six or seven months' duration. In the latitude of 

 Valparaiso, it seldom rains more than two or three days in 

 succession, after which, there may be fine weather for a 

 week or two, often for a much longer period. At Coquimbo, 

 three degrees farther north, the rain falls at still longer 

 intervals; at Copiapo, the most northern part of Chili, the 

 showers are few and light, and on the coast of Peru, rain is 

 almost unknown; only a dense mist is experienced there 

 during the winter months, but as the people know no other 

 rain, this period is called there, as in Chili, the Rainy 

 Season, [tiempo de los agnacerros,) and the ladies of Lima 

 frequently complain, after a short walk, of the heavy shower 

 they have been exposed to, in what we should consider, in 

 this weeping climate of ours, tolerably fine weather. Even 

 this mist diminishes as we proceed towards the Equator, 

 so that, although the sun is seldom visible in Lima for 



