392 CLIMATE. 



Having travelled over only a small portion of the United 

 States territory, lying between 37 and 45 north latitude, 

 embracing the states of New England, Pennsylvania, New 

 Jersey, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the territory 

 of Michigan, my remarks shall be confined to this region, 

 which might, with propriety, be divided into the eastern, 

 middle, and western states, if particular consideration was in 

 tended to be given it. 



The climate of that portion of the United States which I 

 travelled over participates of the general character of the con 

 tinent, having the extremes of heat and cold. The length of 

 winter will of course vary with the latitude, which, in the 

 north, will be nearly six months, and in the southern part, 

 about six weeks. 



This legion is intersected by the Alleghany mountains, 

 commencing in the state of Maine, and passing through New 

 Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Connec 

 ticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, dividing the country 

 longitudinally. Some parts of this range is of considerable 

 height Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, being 6634 

 feet above the level of the sea. Monadnock, in the south 

 west corner of New Hampshire, was the most elevated point 

 which I was near, being 3254 feet in height, and, with the 

 exception of the fails of the Niagara, the only truly sublime 

 object I saw in America. The Alleghany range varies in 

 breadth at different places. Across the mountains in New 

 Hampshire is about 120 miles in New York, about 150 miles, 

 and in Pennsylvania, 130 miles. In such situations, climate 

 will be affected by altitude as well as latitude. 



In the country east of the Alleghanies, north-east winds 

 prevail for a considerable part of the year, especially in the 

 New England states, where they are cold and raw to human 

 feeling in the spring months. To the west of the Alle 

 ghanies, the most prevalent wind is from the south-west, and 

 is mild in temperature. The winds blowing chiefly from dif 

 ferent directions, on opposite sides of the mountains, have been 

 ingeniously accounted for by Volney and other writers, and 

 thought to be connected with the trade winds, gulf stream, a 

 cold current of air from Davis Straits, and the configuration 



