6 Meteorological Observations made in 
from which it is but a few leagues distant. 'The temperature of — 
Barranquilla, a village situated on the river Magdalena, about — 
eighteen miles from its mouth, is nearly the same with that of 
Santa Marta; for if, on the one hand, the air is refreshed by the 
evaporation from a damp soil covered with luxuriant forests and 
the vicinity of a large river, on the other, it is beyond the reach 
of the sea-breeze, and the influence of the mountains which ope- 
rate in Santa Marta. The annual mean is 82°20. That of Cu-_ 
mana is, according to Humboldt, 81°. The breezes which sweep — 
from the gulf of Paria over the wooded Brigantine chain, proba- 
bly contribute to lower the temperature. 
e have thus, on a calculation of six points on the Atlantic 
coast of Colombia, a mean annual temperature of 82°-56.* The 
shores of the Pacific, as far as the latitude of Payta, are subjected 
to other influences, being almost entirely covered by damp, lux-— 
urient forests; while the ocean itself is cooled, as Humboldt ob- 
serves, by the winds which blow continually from the south. 
This, however, is more perceptibly the case from latitude 8° to 
to 13°, where the air is cooled to an average of 719-8 (Hum- 
boldt De Distributione Geog. Pl. p. 92.) Betwixt 9° N. Jat. 
and 3° S. lat. if we may frust to observations made at the five 
points of Panama, Esmeraldas, El Morro, the island of Puna; and 
Guayaquil, the annual mean is 80°-11, being 2°-45 less than the 
mean of the Atlantic coast. A notable difference also arises from 
the superior elevation of the Pacific chain of the Andes, and its 
more immediate vicinity to the coast, while the Venezuelan 
branch, with the exception of the Santa Marta ridge, is both low 
er and more inland. A curious exception to the general temper 
ature of the Pacific coast, may be found on passing Punta Galera 
and Cabo San Francisco (lat. 50’ N.)to the south. The sky is here 
almost perpetually clouded, and a drizzling rain falls through the 
greater part of the year. During a week I passed there I never sa¥ 
the sun ; and the average temperature was only 749-14. This was 
the more striking, as along the coast, immediately to the north 
of Punta Galera, the weather was constantly dry and the sky 
clear. The miry state of the road across the point of the Cape 
a ae 
* T have not included Cartagena, because the number of observations is perhaps 
too limited to draw a conclusion as to the yearly temperature. If we take them 
into the calculation, the annual mean would be 82°-86, which is probably too high- 
