92 LENGTH OP DAYS AND NIGHTS. 



LIB. it. d r inke raine water, and it quencheth the thirst,, as our men 

 have well tried, having no other to drinke. So, as reason 

 and experience doth teach vs, that raine of it selfe doth 

 temper the heat ; and having by this meanes shewed that 

 the burning Zone is much subiect vnto raine, it appeares 

 that there is matter in it to temper the violence of the 

 heat. To this I will adde an other reason, which deserves 

 to be knowne, not only for this matter, but for many others; 

 for although the Sunne be very hotte and burning vnder 

 the Equinoctial!, yet is it not long, so as the heate of the day 

 being there shorter, and of lesse continuance, it causeth not 

 so violent a heate ; the which it behooves to specific more 

 particularly. Such as are practised in the knowledge of 

 the Spheare teach very well, that the more the Zodiake is 

 oblique and traversing our Hemisphere, the more vnequall 

 are the daies and nights ; and contrariwise, where the 

 sphere is straight, and the signes mount directly, there the 

 dayes and nights are equall. And therefore in all that 

 Region which is betweene the two Tropicks, there is lesse 

 inequality then without them, and the more we approach 

 the Line, the lesse inequalitie we finde, the which we have 

 tryed in those parts. Those of Quito, for that they are 

 vnder the line, have not throughout the whole yeere the 

 daycs and nights more short at one season then at an other, 

 but are continually equall. Those of Lima beeing distant 

 almost twelve degrees, finde some distance betwixt the dayes 

 and the nights, but very little, for that in December and 

 lanuarie, the dayes increase an houre or little lesse. Those 

 of Potosi finde much more difference, both in winter and in 

 summer, being almost under the Tropicke. But those that 

 live without the Tropikes, find the dayes in winter shorter, 

 and in summer longer; the more remote they are from the 

 Equinoctial and come neere the Pole, as we see in Germany 

 and in England the daies are longer in summer then in 

 Italic and Spaine. It is a thing which the Sphere doth 



