194 Remarks on Madeira, Climate of the Tropics, 



bility to be applied to that of muriatic acid; and whatever supe- 

 riority may belong to it, this will be applied to both. The 

 question, therefore, deserves attention only on the principle, that 

 in chemical investigations it is always of importance to adhere 

 rigidly to the observation and strict expression of a fact, whe- 

 ther it is conformable to a prevalent doctrine or not, or whether 

 it admits of obvious explanation or not, on any established law. 

 In numerous experiments on muriatic acid gas I have always ob- 

 tained water in small but very sensible quantity, where its pro- 

 duction, I am satisfied, cannot be accounted for from any of the 

 extraneous sources to which it has been attempted to refer it. 

 And I certainly shall not refrain from maintaining what I regard 

 as the strict expression of an experimental result; at the same 

 lime, in the experiments at present refcred to, the formation of a 

 supermuriate affords a principle, which, as I have already stated, 

 sufficientlv accounts for the fact. 



XXXIII. Remarks on Madeira, Climate of the Tropics, Trade- 



Wiiids, Rio Janeiro, the Polar Ice, &c. Extracted from a Jour. 



nal kept by John Hammet, M.D. Surgeon R.N., in a Voyage 



from England to Rio Janeiro. Communicated by Dr. Pearson. 



[Concluded from p. 11 7-] 



vJn the 23d of January we left Rio Janeiro, sine privilegio 

 regali minime gentium, in order to proceed to Ribeira in the 

 district of Ubatuba, to take in our lading of timber, the last 

 granted perhaps for many years to come, and anchored at 7 P.M. 

 of Monday the 25th in four fathoms, a little round a biangular 

 projection to the left in Sharks' Bay. Between Rio de Janeiro 

 and the village of Ubatuba the land is in general bold and high, 

 abounding with impendent precipices above*, and rugged decli- 

 vities between these and naked rocks half buried in the sea be- 

 low; but between Ubatuba and the village of St. Sebastian, on 

 the main land and opposite the island of the same name, it is a 

 continued series of bays, of various sizes and forms, running in 

 different directions. — The ttoAuc^Xoio-^oioj •&«A«(7cr«, so accordant 

 to the venerable Chryses' or our ovvn reverend vicar's feelings, is 

 outdone by the loud surges of the multitudinous billows of the 

 Southern Ocean rolling and dashing in succession with the 

 greatest impetuositv and violence against the long and level sandy 

 beaches in this part of the Brasils. 



The short sail from Rio de Janeiro to Ribeira was certainly 



■ Riipes et acuta letlio 



Saxa. 



pleasant 



