KAMTSCHATKA. 279 



When we cast our eyes upon the globe, it ap- 

 pears to us that the twofold current of tlie atmo- 

 sphere, from the equator to the poles, in its upper 

 regions, and from the poles to the equator, in its 

 lower region, determined in their direction by the 

 rotation of the earth on its axis, must bring over 

 Europe, from the interior of Africa, which is 

 scorched by the sun, a current of air far more 

 heated in proportion, than over any other country 

 in the world. We consider the continent lying to 

 the south and S.W. of Europe, between the line 

 and the northern tropic, as a furnace which heats 

 the air that passes over it, and determines its 

 climate ; a furnace such as no other part of the 

 earth enjoys ; and we think, in general, that con- 

 tinents lying between the equator and the tropics, 

 must give to the more eastern parts of the world, 

 towards the pole, a warmer climate than other 

 parts have under the influence of similarly situated 

 seas. 



This is not the place farther to develop and 

 discuss this idea, or to submit a new theory to 

 calculations, and try it by the touch-stone of facts 

 still imperfectly known. We only wished to point 

 out the thought which struck us, passing travellers, 

 in the north of the Great Ocean, at the sight of the 

 wintry Aleutian islands, (under the latitude of Ham- 

 burg) and the coasts of Beering's Straits, (under 

 the latitude of Drontheim and Norway. We shall 



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