260 CLIMATOLOGY. 



equable ; the difference between the hot and cold months 

 being less. We find in it an expression of the general 

 fact, that the west coasts of continents are warmer than 

 the east ones ; and as Montreal and Fort Vancouver lie 

 nearly in the same latitudes and at the same altitudes 

 above the sea, and both are far enough removed from the 

 coast to be beyond the direct influence of the sea breezes, 

 columns 4. and 6. furnish the means of eliciting many 

 of the peculiarities of climate on the two sides of the 

 continent. Instead of four or five months of continuous 

 snow and ice which Canada may be said to enjoy, for it is 

 the season of general enjoyment, Oregon has an open, rainy 

 winter, with little frost or snow ; but, at the same time, 

 a summer of less power. 



Table V. exhibits even greater differences in the Pacific 

 and Atlantic climates in a higher parallel. The course of 

 the ocean currents, and the interposition of the peninsula 

 of Alaska and its prolongation by the Aleutian chain of 

 islands, protect the west coast of America from the masses 

 of drift ice which in the same latitudes encumber and 

 chill the Labrador coast for most of the year. Even in 

 the polar regions the west coasts have milder climates. 

 Table X. shows, as far as it goes, that the mean tem- 

 perature of the west coast of Greenland exceeds that of 

 places on the continent, up to the 150th meridian, though 

 the summer on the coast is greatly colder than that of 

 the interior. By the study of Table XII. we learn that 

 in the polar seas the summer heats vary little, as we might 

 expect from the constant presence of ice ; but the annual 

 mean seems to decrease generally with the latitude, the 

 only exception being that of Wolstenholme Sound, in which 

 we have a confirmation of the greater mildness of the west 

 Greenland coast. In the hi^h latitudes the mean heat of 

 the three winter months does not differ greatly in different 



