52 dunbar's remarks on the 



The North and N. W. wind blows often with some severity 

 before the close of the month of November, shifting to the 

 East of the meridian with fogs and some rain: the fogs being: 

 more remarkable m lower Louisiana and adjoining to the great 

 valley of the Mississippi. The winter now sets in with the 

 month of December and its duration may be estimated at two 

 months, although during its whole course, when the wind 

 continues for some time at S. and S. W. we enjoy a very 

 agreeable mild and some times warm temperature, the thermo- 

 meter often rising to 75°. or more. Hence it follows that 

 our winter climate depends altogether upon the course of the 

 winds. South and S. W. winds involve us within a tropical 

 atmosphere corrected however by the accessions of cold which 

 we have received already from the North, and which produ- 

 ces a most agreeable spring or mild summer temperature; the 

 productions of the garden now vegetate with vigour and if 

 long enough continued the fields assume a verdant hue — a 

 mild fall and moderate winter some times permit us to gather 

 from our gardens at Christmas, green peas and other summer 

 productions. But when on the other hand the winds blow 

 from the N. W. and North we are at once plunged into the 

 rigors of a Northern winter; hence it is that tender shrubs and 

 plants are frequently destroyed here which might be expected 

 to withstand a more Northern clime. The human body also 

 is extremely susceptible of the sudden transitions which natu- 

 rally suggests the idea, that frequent pleuritic and inflammatory 

 diseases must be the natural attendants of our variable winter 

 climate, but experience demonstrates the contrary. Probably 

 the relaxation which the body undergoes during the extreme 

 heats of summer diminishes the oxygenation of the blood and 

 consequently renders it less susceptible of inflammation. 



August and September are called the hurricane months, and 

 I believe there never happens a hurricane of great extent and 

 duration at any other season, and this seldom reaches much 

 higher than New Orleans, sweeping along the sea coast. Storms, 

 hurricanes, whirlwinds or tornados of small extent and very 

 short duration, happen at any season and from all points ot the 

 compass. We ought perhaps to except the months of May 

 and October, least of all subject to sudden changes and which 



