3f;3 J A M A I C A. 



upwarils of one hundred, and where the ah' is iubject to a variation 

 of forty-fix degrees in twenty-four hours. He, indeed, fuppofts 

 ♦' all other things equal " and that there be no natural impedi- 

 ments, fuch as marflies, landy defarts, and the like. By this pru- 

 dent faho, he excludes at once the greater part of the province, and 

 bv far the richeft ; for thatpait, which furniflies fo large a pro- 

 duce annually of indigo and rice, is the moil unuholefome of any 

 it it, and therefore not much calculated to promote the happinefs 

 of mankind, fo far as refpe6ls health, however fruitful it may be. 



During the growth of the rice in the months of July and Au- 

 guft, the fevers, which attack grangers here, are very anomalous, 

 not remitting nor intermitting foon, but partaking much of the 

 nature of thofe diflempers which are fo fatal to the newly-arrived 

 Europeans in Weft-India climates. The fame may be f;ud of 

 Georgia and Eaft Florida during thofe months. It is true, the 

 great heats, obferved at Charles Town, may perhaps be, in fame 

 meafure, charged on its fituation ; which, I am told, is flat, low, 

 and fandy, at the conflux of two rivers, and in the neighbourhood 

 of extenfive fwamps. Further inland, one hundred miles from the 

 coaft, the climate is probably more temperate in dimmer; and 

 fomc imagine, that, as the country becomes more opened and im- 

 proved, the exceffive cold, that prevails at certain times of the 

 year, may gradually abate. But it is more reafonable to think, 

 that the inftability of temperature, the fudden ftarts from heat to 

 cold, and cold to heat, will never ceafe ; fince they probably owe 

 their origin to the fliifting of the wind alternately from one point 

 to another : when it comes from ofF the fea, it brings warm wea- 

 ther ; but, when it veers to the North-weft, it paf^'es over that im- 

 menfe traft of continent ftretching to the Ar6lic Circle, over vaft 

 lakes and high mountains capped with fnow. To thefe eternal 

 caufcs it owes its bleaknefs, which often produces fuch violent 

 changes in the air of this province. 



The heat at Kingflon, in Jamaica, is fomewhat greater than at 

 Spanifh Tov/n. Tlic air, about ten miles Weft from Spanifli Town, 

 in a fmall vale environed with hills, was found, at an average, fix 

 to fevcn degrees cooler than in that town. 



I Wlien 



