HISTORICAL III 



vapours are constantly ascending, and on the other side by a vast range of mountain which is always 

 enveloped in rain or snow. Those who have carefully considered this singular phenomenon, allege 

 that it is occasioned by the continual prevalence of a strong south-west wind all along the coast and 

 over the whole plain of Peru, which carries off all the vapours which rise from the sea and the land, 

 without allowing them to rise sufficiently high in the air to gather and fall down again in rain. From 

 the tops of the high mountains, these vapours are often seen far beneath on the plain in thick clouds, 

 while all is quite clear and serene on the mountain. By the perpetual blowing of the same wind, the 

 waters of the South-sea have a constant current along the coast to the northward. Others allege a 

 different reason for this current ; saying that the water of the South-sea having only a narrow outlet 

 at the Straits of Magellan, which are only two leagues broad, and being there opposed by the 

 Atlantic Ocean, they are forced to return to the northward along the coast of Chili and Peru. This 

 constant wind and current render the navigation exceedingly difficult, from Panama to Peru for the 

 greater part of the year; so that vessels are obliged always to tack to windward against wind and 

 current. 



The whole coast of Peru abounds in fish of various kinds, among which are great quantities of sea- 

 calves or seals, of several species. Beyond the river of Tumbez there are no caymans or alligators, 

 which is supposed to be owing to the too great coolness of the sea and rivers, as these animals delight 

 in heat ; but it is more probable that their absence from the rivers of Peru is occasioned by their great 

 rapidity as they usually frequent rivers that are very still. 



It is also written that the conquistadores in these harbours used to cool their drinks 

 by hanging flasks over the side of the ship (Acosta, 1604). 



The records of early navigators such as Drake and Hawkins also contain references 

 to the current and to the climatic and physical features of the coast, but the hazards of 

 life at sea when England was perennially at war with Spain must have effectually pre- 

 vented any attempt at scientific observation ; and although Hook had designed oceano- 

 graphical instruments in 1662, they seem not to have been in use, in the southern 

 hemisphere at any rate, before Cook's voyages. Richard Walter, writing of the west 

 coast during Anson's voyage round the world in 1740, mentions specially his need of a 

 thermometer. He begins his discourse upon temperature anomalies by stating that 

 flying fish and bonito were not met south of lat. 8° S, whereas off the Brazilian coast they 

 extend to much higher latitudes : this he ascribed to the low temperature of the water. 

 After a philosophic review of many other temperature anomalies he correlates the cool 

 water on the west coast with the height of the Andes : in the Gulf of Panama, where the 

 Andes are relatively low, he points out that the water is warm, whereas off Peru, where 

 they are high, the water is cool. He attributes the coolness of the Peruvian climate, 

 then, to the snowfields on the Andes :^ this and the formation of cloud has a refrigerating 

 effect upon the water. He ends his discourse with the hope that 



as it is a subject in which mankind, especially travellers of all sorts, are very much interested, that it 

 were more thoroughly and accurately examined, and that all ships bound to the warmer climates 

 would furnish themselves with thermometers of a known fabric, and would observe them daily, 

 and register their observations ; for considering the turn to philosophical subjects, which has obtained 



1 This view had gained currency before Walter's time. According to Kerr (1824, xi, pp. 32-33), 

 Betagh writes: "One would expect the weather to be much hotter here; but there is no proportion 

 between the heat of this part of America and the same latitudes in Africa. This is owing to two causes; 

 that the neighbourhood of the snowy mountains diffuses a cool temperature of the air all round ; and the 

 constant humid vapours, which are so frequent that I often expected it to rain when I first went to Lima." 



