PHYSICAL CLIMATE. 505 



cially from the marshy districts, which originate formidable remittent and continued 

 fevers, the well-known scourges of hot climates. The dry portions of this zone are sandy 

 or stony wastes, with little or no vegetation except in a few oases, and with scarcely an 

 animal besides the camel. Towards the tropics, the temperature is less equable than at 

 the equator ; the seasonal heat is excessive ; and travelling, or any kind of exertion, 

 through several hours of the day becomes impossible. The wooden furniture in dwell 

 ings warps and shrinks ; glass is sometimes cracked ; thirst is continual ; the body is 

 debilitated ; all disposition to effort is destroyed ; and motion often becomes painful. 

 The sun- stroke, or coup-de-soleil, is the frequent consequence of exposure to the intensity 

 of the solar action, and was fatal to numbers in the crusading armies, who, unaware of 

 danger, encountered the fierce beams of mid-day on the plains of Syria. 



Warm Regions. These extend from the northern limit of the sugar-cane to the 

 northern boundary of the olive and the fig ; and include the southern districts of Europe, 

 part of midland and south-western Asia, and portions of the southern United States. 

 The frosts here are not severe in the plains ; snow is also rare ; and the rivers are seldom 

 frozen over. The winters are more distinguished by dampness than cold, resembling the 

 spring of the temperate regions. Vegetables on the south of this zone grow during seven 

 or eight months in the year, and the trees are not stripped of their foliage more than two 

 months. The air of the European warm regions is in general clear and salubrious ; but, 

 owing to the abundance of vegetation, and numerous marshes in corresponding trans 

 atlantic climates, noxious effluvia are continually formed. The autumns are uniformly 

 sickly ; and the countenances of the inhabitants have a pale and sallow cast, instead of 

 the bloom and freshness which belong to those of more northern districts, or to the 

 brunette of the southern Europeans. 



Temperate Regions. This zone reaches from the northern limit of the olive and fig 

 to that of the wine-grape, and has a mean temperature varying from 50 on the northern 

 border to 59 on the southern. The transition from winter to summer is here gradual, 

 and the four seasons are distinctly marked. The winter is commonly from three to five 

 months long in the northern parts, attended with a considerable quantity of snow ; and 

 the waters are often strongly frozen. In the southern parts, the winter does not exceed 

 two or three months ; the fall of snow is less, and the frosts are seldom severe. Grain, 

 vegetables, and many fine fruits are produced in abundance, with excellent pasturage, 

 but the fruits often ripen with difficulty, and the harvests are injured by moisture and 

 rains. France, Germany, and southern Russia are included in this region, with Holland, 

 Belgium, England, and Ireland, on account of their maritime situation. The same 

 climate characterises a part of the east coast of Asia, the northern and midland United 

 States, the interior country south of Lake Huron, and the basin of the Columbia river. 

 At Nootka Sound the rivers do not freeze until January ; and at the mouth of the 

 Columbia, the first frost observed by Lewis and Clark was in that month. 



Cold Regions. The country in Europe between the wine-grape and the northern 

 limits of the oak, is included in this zone, or midland Russia and southern Scandinavia, 

 with southern Siberia in Asia, and the British provinces in North America. The 

 summers are short, hot, and oppressive, and the winters severe and protracted. Nearly 

 six months in the year, the temperature of Stockholm and Petersburg is below the 

 freezing point. The rivers are frozen during that period ; the snow is permanent ; and 

 the wolf becomes dangerous to the traveller. The air, keen and penetrating, is remark 

 ably clear, still, and salubrious. Where the ground is clear of timber, and level, the 

 winter-picture is that of a frozen sea, which spreads for many a shining league, the sun 

 often careering through the heavens cloudless from morn till night, and then giving 

 place to the moon, soft, clear, and yellow, the rim strongly and beautifully defined on the 



