6 Meteorological Observations made in 



from which it is but a iew leagues distant. The temperature of 

 Barranquilla, a village situated on the river Magdalena, about 

 eighteen miles from its mouth, is nearly the same with that of 

 Santa Marta ; for if, on the one hand, the air is refreshed by the 

 evaporation from a damp soil covered with luxuriant forests and 

 the vicinity of a large river, on the other, it is beyond the reach 

 of the sea-breeze, and the influence of the mountains which ope- 

 rate in Santa Marta. The annual mean is 82°-20. That of Cu- 

 mana is, according to Humboldt, 81°. The breezes which sweep 

 from the gulf of Paria over the wooded Brigantine chain, proba- 

 bly contribute to lower the temperature. 



We have thus, on a calculation of six points on the Atlantic 

 coast of Colombia, a mean annual temperature of 82° -56.* The 

 shores of the Pacific, as far as the latitude of Payta, are subjected 

 to other inflaences, being almost entirely covered by damp, lux- 

 urient forests; while the ocean itself is cooled, as Humboldt ob- 

 serves, by the winds which blow continually from the south. 

 This, however, is more perceptibly the case from latitude 8° to 

 to 13°, where the air is cooled to an average of 71°-8 (Hum- 

 boldt X>e /)^■s^r^■6w^^■o7^e Geog. PI. p. 92.) Betwixt 9° N. lat. 

 and 3° S. lat. if we may trust to observations made at the five 

 points of Panama, Esmeraldas, El Morro, the island of Puna, and 

 Guayaquil, the annual mean is 80°- 11. being 2°-45 less than the 

 mean of the Atlantic coast. A notable difference also arises from 

 the superior elevation of the Pacific chain of the Andes, and its 

 more immediate vicinity to the coast, while the Venezuelan 

 branch, with the exception of the Santa Marta ridge, is both low- 

 er and more^ inland. A curious exception to the general temper- 

 ature of the Pacific coast, may be found on passing Punta Galera 

 and Cabo San Francisco (lat. 50' N. ) to the south. The sky is here 

 almost perpetually clouded, and a drizzling rain falls through the 

 greater part of the year. During a week I passed there I never saw 

 the sun ; and the average temperature was only 74° -14. This was 

 the more striking, as along the coast, immediately to the north 

 of Punta Galera, the weather was constantly dry and the sky 

 clear. The miry state of the road across the jioint of the Cape of 



* I have not Included Cartagena, because the number of observations is perhaps 

 too limited to draw a conclusion as to the yearly touiperalure. If we take them 

 into the calculation, the annual mean would be 82°-86, which is probably too high. 



