242 Mr. Colebrooke on the 
662°; that of the coldest month, 554°; of the hottest, 804°; 
extremes, 95° and 52°; mean of three winter months, 563°; 
of three summer months, 79°; least heat in summer, 61°. 
Beyond the great chain of mountains, a material difference 
in climate is perceptible. But meteorological diaries, kept at 
the principal stations, do not extend to a sufficiently long pe- 
riod, for confidently deducing from them positive conclusions. 
It would be unsafe to do so from a journal of a single twelve- 
month, unchecked by personal knowledge of the place. It 
should appear, however, that the eastern division of South 
Africa is subject to a colder winter than the western. The 
extreme of cold, quoted at Uitenhage, is 32° ; at Bathurst, 44°. 
The climate of the western tract, constituting the belt of 
land between the range of high mountains and the sea, from 
St. Helena bay and the Berg river, to the southern termination 
of the peninsula, or Cape of Good Hope, consisting of the Stel- 
lenbosch and Cape districts, with part of Tulbagh, and com- 
prising the most populous and best cultivated portion of the 
colony, exhibits, for the mean temperature of the year, accord- 
ing to the diaries above cited, 66° to 67°; coldest month, 56° to 
58°; hottest month, 77° to 80°; extremes, 96° and 45°; mean 
of three winter months, 56° to 60°; mean of three summer 
months, 75° to 79°; least heat in summer, 61° to 63°. 
_ The winter lasts from June to August; and the whole of the 
cold and rainy season, from May to October. The summer 
continues from December to February; and the whole of the 
warm and dry season, from November to April. The north- 
western monsoon extends from the middle of April to the 
middle of September, five months: the south-eastern monsoon, 
seven months, from September to April. 
At the Cape, as in the south of Europe, and most of the 
warm climates of a temperate zone, wind commonly blows cool 
in summer, at the same time that the sun shines powerfully. 
It is this circumstance, which distinguishes a warm from a hot 
climate. Parched winds and frequent summer calms, equally 
make a hot climate. In a cool one, or merely warm, the 
temperature of the air, in the shade, and in ventilated sun- 
