492 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



family, characterise this zone. The soil, covered with mosses and tender grass, is 

 enriched with showy flowering plants. Next comes the region of Pines, commencing at 

 the height of 5760 feet, and extending to 8610, entirely filled with trees resembling the 

 Scotch fir, intermingled with the juniper. The region of Retama, a species of broom, 

 and of Gramma or grasses, occupy heights equal to the loftiest summits of the Pyrenees, 

 where the snow is perpetual ; beyond which nothing presents itself but the naked pumice, 

 obsidian, and lava of the cone of the volcano. 



We find therefore within the torrid zone, countries enjoying a moderate temperature, 

 as the effect of their elevation above the level of the sea. This is the cause of the 

 delightful climate of the valleys of Cashmere, and of portions of Hindustan lying on the 

 declivities of the Himalaya mountains. The table-land between the eastern and western 

 Ghauts, in the south of that peninsula, partakes a climate of the same character. There 

 are no long days to produce the excessive heats of more northern latitudes, and the 

 summers are even cooler than in the tempei*ate zone, a vertical sun maintaining the 

 temperature of a perpetual spring throughout the year. The streams are perennial, the 

 verdure constant, the air mild and salubrious, and the whole scene cheering at all seasons. 

 The same agreeable effect of elevation upon temperature in a region geographically 

 placed in the hottest parts of the globe, is experienced on the plateau of Abyssinia, and 

 on the slopes and table-lands of the Andes. The inhabitants of Quito experience a genial 

 and almost invariable climate, in which vegetation never ceases, while on the one hand, 

 they behold the paramos, or mountain ridges, some of the summits rising above the 

 clouds, covered with perpetual snow, and at the distance of a few leagues, an intense 

 and sickly degree of heat oppresses the plains and lower levels. On the plains of the 

 Orinoco the temperature throughout the year is that of the month of August at Rome ; 

 at Papayan, at an elevation of 2988 feet, it is that of the month of August at Paris ; at 

 Quito, 4894 feet, that of the month of May ; in the paramos, 5904 feet, that of the month 

 of March at Paris. 



Upon proceeding from Acapulco, on the western coast of Mexico, into the interior 

 country, Humboldt speaks of ascending by burning valleys at the base of the Cordilleras, 

 where the thermometer stood at 89*6 in the shade, crossing streams on fruits of Crescentia 

 pinnata, attached to each other by ropes of agave, till, gaining the higher districts from 

 3500 to 5900 feet above the sea, he entered a region blessed with a temperate climate, 

 and producing oaks, cypresses, pines, tree-ferns, and the cultivated cereal plants of 

 Europe. 



3. The relation subsisting between a country and the ocean is another important 

 element in the determination of its climate. 



The ocean preserves a much more uniform temperature than the land, far lower than 

 its extreme of heat, and higher than its extreme cold. The atmospheric currents that 

 sweep over it have this character to some extent impressed upon them, and enstamp it 

 upon the physical climate of countries situated within the range of their influence. 

 Hence islands and maritime districts have universally milder climates than inland regions 

 under the same parallel of latitude, the cooler currents of air from the ocean tempering 

 their summer heat, and warmer currents modei'ating their winter cold. The temperature 

 at London corrected by that of the contiguous sea is lower in summer than at Paris, and 

 higher in winter, though in a more northern latitude. 



The same cause explains the mild winters and cool summers of Ireland ; and the 

 contrast between the climate of the south-west coast of England, and the interior of the 

 island, not half a degree of latitude differing from it. At the port of Salcombe in 

 Devonshire, called the Montpelier of the north, an agave flowered in 1774, after having 

 lived twenty-eight years without being covered in winter ; and in some parts of that 



