THE AMAZON VALLEY. 299 



and Rio Negro ; but I never myself experienced anything of 

 the kind worthy of notice. Many intelligent persons have 

 assured me that the cold is sometimes \ so severe that the in- 

 habitants suffer much, and, what is much more extraordinary, 

 the fishes in the rivers die of it. Allowing this to be the fact, 

 I am quite unable to account for it, as it is difficult to conceive 

 that a diminution of temperature of five or ten degrees, which 

 is as much as ever takes place, can produce any effect upon 

 them. 



I have an authentic account of hail having once fallen on 

 the Upper Amazon, a remarkable occurrence at a place only 

 three degrees south of the equator, and about two hundred 

 feet above the level of the sea. The children were out at 

 play, and brought it to their parents, astonished at a substance 

 falling from the clouds quite new to them, and which was so 

 remarkably cold. The person who told me was a Portuguese, 

 and his information can be perfectly relied on. 



