2 Meteorological Observations made in 
_~ fallen on a time when every species of local and traditional in-— 
formation, every glimmering of philosophic research had been — 
buried and obliterated amid the storms and struggles of the rev- 
olution. 
The geographical features of Colombia have been one 
by Humboldt with an accuracy which renders further description 
superfluous. It is, however, impossible to traverse this extensive 
territory, without being struck by the physical phenomena ofa 
country where height produces the effect of latitude, and where 
the changes of climate, with all the consequent revolutions of an- 
imal and vegetable life, are brought about by localities to which 
we find little analogy in Europe. The equatorial seasons, as Is 
well known, are merely the wet and dry; and though the Span- 
jards, Fafinenced by European recollections, have given the former 
the name of winter invierno, it is during this period that na- 
ture revives from the vegetative torpor which the scorching 
‘tropical heats produce in the lowlands in almost an equal degree 
with the frosts of northern climates. In the vast plains which 
extend to the south and east of the great chain of the Andes, the 
rainy season observes an invariable order. The Orinoco begins , 
to rise in April, and attains its maximum of increase in July and — 
_ August, when the immense savannas which extend to the base 
of the Andes are converted into the appearance of an inland 
ocean. It decreases from this period, and the summer is reckon- 
ed from October to April. In the mountains, on the contrary, — 
the rains commence about the former month, and predominate, 
With intervals of fair weather, till May or June. The winter of 
the low lands, to the west and north of the Cordillera, both 
on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, is governed by that of the — 
mountains, but with several curious localities. Thus, the rainy 
season of Guayaquil is nearly as regular as that of the plains, be- 
ing reckoned from the middle of December to the middle of May; 
while the thick forests, which further to the north cover the 
provinces of Esmeraldas, Barbacoas, and Choco, produce, by theif 
coustant evaporation, an almost perpetual deluge. Wherever, on 
the contrary, the Cordillera recedes to some distance from the coast — 
as is the case with parts of the Venezuelan chain, the intermediaté 
country is parched often by a drought of sisvtel years. Mara 
eaybo, and a considerable part of the province of Coro, are ine 
stances where sandy plains, scantily shaded by Mimosas + 
