354 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



of Italy; it is not subject to rains, but every morning 

 there falls a dew which fertilizes the earth." None of the 

 party make any complaint of the climate; they speak, 

 on the contrary, in their notes and memoranda, of the cool, 

 dry, and refreshing atmosphere, especially after the western 

 breezes set in, which they usually do an hour or two after 

 the sun has passed the meridian, and continue till mindight ; 

 and when calm in the early part of the day, the sun is said so 

 seldom to shine out, thai for four or five days together, they 

 were unable to get a correct altitude to ascertain the latitude. 

 So much, however, depends on locality, that at the place 

 where the Congo was moored, the range of the thermometer 

 diifered very materially from that on board the transport 

 lower down, and also from that observed in the upper parts 

 of the river. The former vessel was moored in a reach 

 surrounded by hills, and what little of the sea breeze 

 reached her, had to pass over a low swampy island. Here, 

 Mr. M'Kerrow noticed the range of the thermometer to 

 be from 70° to 90° in the shade ; sometimes, though but 

 seldom, as low as 67° in the night, and as high; as 98° at 

 noon ; and one day on shore it rose to 103° under the 

 shade of trees ; at the same time, above Inga, the tempe- 

 rature seldom exceeded 76" in the day, and was sometimes 

 down to 60° at night. He seems to think, that partly 

 owing to a better position of the transport, which remained 

 at anchor lower down the river, nearly opposite to the 

 Tall Trees, where she had the benefit of the sea breeze with- 

 out interruption, and partly by preventing her crew from 



