CATARACTS, AND INUNDATIONS. Ill 



town of Kingston is supplied with water from wells. The ground 

 on which it stands rises with a gentle ascent as you recede from the 

 sea. In the low part of the town the wells are but a few feet deep, 

 and many of them brackish. The heat of the water in some of 

 them I have found as high as 82 ; but they were evidently too near 

 the surface not to be affected by the heat of the seasons. As you 

 ascend, the wells are deeper, and the temperature is nearly 80 in 

 all of them. What variations there are, come within 1, that is, 

 half a degree less than 80, or half a degree more. They are of 

 different depths, and some not less than 100 feet ; though, after 

 they are of half that depth, the temperature is nearly uniform. At 

 the Governor's Pen, which is also in the low part of the country, a 

 well, which is above 60 feet deep, is 79^ - There is a well at Half, 

 way-tree, 213 feet deep, which is 79. Half-way-tree is two miles 

 from Kingston, with a very gentle ascent. Near Rock -Fort is a 

 spring, immediate!) at the foot of the long mountain, which throws 

 out a great body of water; the heat of it is 79. All the places 

 mentioned are but very little above the level of the sea, probably 

 not more than the depth of the wells at tue respective places ; for 

 near Kingston there are springs that appear just below the water- 

 mark of the sea, and those that supply the wells are probably on the 

 same level. 



The temperature of the air at Kingston admits but of small va. 

 riation. The thermometer, at the hottest time of the day, and 

 during the hottest season of the year, ranges from 85 to 90; in 

 the coolest season, and observed about sun. rise, which is the coldest 

 time in the 24 hours, it ranges from 70 to 77- I hate seen rt 

 once as low as 69, and two different times as high as 9!. The 

 annual mean temperature cannot therefore either much exceed, or 

 fall much short of 80, as indicated by the wells. 



The following springs were examined with much accuracy by the 

 Hon. Mr. Sewell, Attorney-General of Jfhe island. Ayscouah's 

 spring, on the road from Spanish Town to Pusev's, in St. John's 

 parish, 75. Pusey's spring, sill higher in the mountains, 7'2f. 

 A spring near the barracks, at Points hill in St. John's parish, /0. 

 The thermometer in the shade at Pusey's, during part of the 

 month of June, was found to range from 69^ to 79^- It was 

 observed both late at night and early in the morning before sun rise. 

 The spring in Brailsfoid Valley, about 10 miles above Spanish 



