5^4- JAMAICA. 



pear as if they had been rifted on purpoft; to give it a paffige. 

 The vale is ahnoft daily throughout the year overcafl with a thick 

 fog, which begins to rile flowly on the approach of evening, grows 

 denkr as the night advances, becomes gradvialy diffnfed into all 

 the contiiTuous vales or inlets among the furrounding mountains, 

 is heavieft abont the dawn of day, and remains fettled until the 

 fun has warmed and agitated the air; then it rifes higher, expand- 

 ing in the atmofphere ; and between the hours of eiglit and nine 

 in the forenoon it begins to flow away in tv^'o principal flreams, the 

 one Weftward among the mountains on tliat fide, the other South- 

 ward, following the courfe of the river. Early in the morning it 

 is extremely thick; and, if viewed at this time from the fummit 

 of the mountains, it affords the mod: lively reprefentation poffible 

 of a large lake, or little fea : the feveral vales and collateral inlets 

 appear to be arms, harbours, bays, and creeks ; the elevated fpots, 

 difperfed through it, and covered with trees, buildings, or cane- 

 pieces, refemble fmall iflands, which here and there uplift their 

 diminutive heads above water, combining into view the mod pic- 

 turefque and delightful variety. This fog has been remarked as a 

 lingular phasnomenon almoft from the firfl fettlement of the ifland. 

 I fliall not pretend definitively to explain the phyfical caufes of it ; 

 the fubje£t has puzzled much abler heads : but as every one has a 

 right to offer his conjeftures ; fo I may be allowed to fubmit mine, 

 without affeding to controul the opinions of others. 



The great abundance of rain that fldls on the encircling moun- 

 tains, their prodigious furface and fudden fteep rife from the vale 

 on all fides, may probably occafion a vaft quantity of water to de- 

 fcend inceffantly, through fubterraneous chafms, into fo low a fitu- 

 ation, as it were into a huge fink. The foil of the vale, which in ge- 

 neral (as has been ohferved) is a clay, may poffibly obflrud the free 

 emergency of this water to the furface, except in particular places, 

 where, the ftratum being thinner, the refiftance is lefs ; or wliere 

 gravel, fand, or mould of a loofe texture, predominate. Accord- 

 ingly, we obferve it copioufly watered with feveral Iprings and ri- 

 vulets, which have their fourcc among the adjacent high lands. 

 But although thefe currents do n.ot burft forth in all parts, yet the 

 fmaller globules of water may gradually be rarefied and evaporate, 



affifled 



