BOOK m. CHAP. VII. 649 



*' heat the atmofphere to fo great a degree, as where the days are 

 " longer, and the nights fliorter, or none at all." He adds, " that 

 •' he never found more heat here, than in fomevaUies near Montpelier; 

 " and that the favannahs are tlie more temperate, becaufe the fun- 

 «' beams are but very little refleded on the body in thefe open plains; 

 *' and the hills adjacent to them are not high enough to interrupt the 

 ** current of the wind, or to reverberate the fun's heat." This how- 

 ever muft be underftood only in a general view, for fome of thefe 

 favannahs are encircled by high lands; but thofe which run down to 

 the coaft, which perhaps were chiefly alluded to by Sloane, are lefs 

 hemmed in than any other. 



The rain precipitates in this ifland with a violence rarely fecn in 

 England, efpecially in thunder-fliowers ; a traveler, overtaken by one 

 of them, will find no garment, except a cloak of oiled fluff, fuffi- 

 cient to guard him from being foaked to the very fkin. I have known 

 the water, after about half an hour's riding in fuch a fhower, per- 

 colate in rills through a flapped hat. On thefe occafions it is always 

 molt prudent to ride a brilker pace than ufual, in order to keep up 

 the perfpiration, efpecially in the evening. We may apply in effedt 

 to the rains in this ifland, what lord Orrery remarked on. thofe of 

 Italy, juft changing the name of place. " After being accufliomed to 

 " them, we think the clouds only drop in Rngland\ but here they 

 " melt in inftantaneous cafcades. In England they only produce 

 " (howers; with us, they pour down cataradts. In truth, the dif- 

 ** ference is amazing." 



A heavy fall of this kind was obferved to penetrate feventeen inches 

 into the earth. The foil was what is diftinguiflied here by the name 

 of brick mould. 



General quantity of rain in one year at the places undermentioned. 



Lowlands of Hilly parts Pifa in Paris. Surinam, Barbadoes. Mountains 



England. ot England. Italy. ot JamiicK. 



Cubic inch, 22 4* 4-3^65 19 r 48 58 tI^ 63 ^V^ 



Perp. feet. inch, F. I. F. I. F. I, F. I. F. I. F. J. 



« "o 3 63 7 i'#5 I 7I 4 00 4 'OtIjt S 3 I'oV 



Taking the whole ifland throughout, fixty-five to feventy inches ap- 

 pear to be about the medium of rain that falls upon it in feafonable 

 years. 



In thofe diftridls where the woods are thick, lofty, and extenfive, 

 as in Portland, St. George, the interior parts of Clarendon, St. Eliza- 

 beth, and St. James, there is an almofl: daily drizzle. So along the 

 whole midland range, the condenfations mufl: be very frequent, other- 

 VoL. II. 4 O wife 



