19 



the autumn ; tlicy continue but a few hours in 

 the morning, and us Ihoj consist only of watery 

 particles, are not pnjudicial either to the health 

 of the iahabit.uit.s, or to the vegetation. 



Sect VI. Winds. The north and north-west 

 winds usually bring rain^ and the south and 

 south-east a clear sky. These serve as infallible 

 indications to the inhabitaits^ who are observant 

 of thetUj and furnish them with a kind of baro- 

 meter to determine previously the state of the 

 weather. The same winds produce directly con- 

 trary effects in the southern and in the n )rthern, 

 hemis;,heres. The north and northerly winds^ 



Fucgo ; but a single fact is not suflicient to establish a theory. 

 Tlie crew of the Spaui.sh -hip Coiiccptiori ))iissed the wliole 

 winter of 1766' there, without experiencing a: y hin^ of a si- 

 milar nature, which might have been prochicetl by a concur- 

 rence of various accidental causes. Wlienever this part of 

 tlie world becon'es well peopled, the cokl, which is now con. 

 sidered as natural to it, will be very sensibly decreased ; on 

 tile lands being cultivated, the air will be rendered as mild and 

 {ileasant as that which is enjoyed by the inhabitants of the 

 northern hemisphere situated under similar parallels of lati- 

 tude, it being a fact well ascertained, that a desert country 

 covered ith woods is much more subject to all the inconve- 

 niences of the atmosphere, than one tilled with inhabitants, 

 and improved by cultivation. 



The account given by Julius Caesar of the climate of France, 

 which at that period w as covered with w ood and uncultivatcdj 

 corresponds with that which the writers of our times have 

 given of the INIagellauic countries. 



r 2 



