80 SEASONS IN PERU. 



LIB. ii. gpeake trueth then, it is Summer wlienas the Sunne is 

 neerest, and Winter when it is farthest off. Both heate 

 and coldnesse, and every other temperature, grovves of 

 necessitie, by the neerenesse and distance of the sunne ; 

 but to raine, or not to raine, which is humiditie and drought, 

 doe not necessarily follow. It is therefore easie to iudge, 

 besides this vulgar opinion, that at Peru the Winter is 

 cleere and without raine, and the Summer full of showres, 

 and not otherwise, as many beleeve, that the winter is hotte 

 and the summer cold. They fall into the like error, vpon 

 the difference they make betwixt the Plaines and the 

 Mountaines of Peru, saying, that when it is summer vpon 

 the mountaine, it is winter in the vallie, which is in April, 

 Male, lune, luly, and August; for then the aire is very 

 cleere vpon the mountaine, without any raine or mistes, 

 and at the same season we commonly see fogges in the 

 plaine, which they call cjarua, which is, as it were, a very 

 gentle dew, wherewith the sunne is obscured. But winter 

 and summer, as it is said, are caused by the neerenesse and 

 distance of the sunne. Seeing, then, that throughout all 

 Peru, both vpon the Mountaines and on the Plaines, the 

 sunne approcheth and retyreth in one sort, there is no 

 reason to say, that when it is summer in one part, that it 

 is winter in another; yet is it no matter of any importance 

 to contend vpon the signification of words. Let them terme 

 them as they please, and call that summer when it raines 

 not, although the heat be greater. But that whereunto 

 we must have greatest regard, is the trueth of the subiect, 

 which is, that drought and want of raine is not alwaies 

 greatest when the sunne approcheth neerest, as we see in 

 the burning Zone. 



