2 Meteorological Observations made in 



fallen on a time when every species of local and traditional in- 

 formation, every glimmering of philosophic research had been 

 buried and obliterated amid the storms and struggles of the rev- 

 olution. 



The geographical features of Colombia have been portrayed 

 by Humboldt with an accuracy which renders further description 

 superfluous. It is, however, impossible to traverse this extensive 

 territory, without being struck by the physical phenomena of a 

 country where height produces the effect of latitude^ and where 

 the changes of climate, with all the consequent revolutions of an- 

 imal and vegetable life, are brought about by localities to which 

 we find little analogy in Europe. The equatorial seasons, as is 

 well known, are merely the wet and dry; and though the Span- 

 iards, influenced by European recollections, have given the former 

 the name of winter invierno, it is during this period that na- 

 ture revives from the vegetative torpor which the scorching 

 tropical heats produce in the lowlands in almost an equal degree 

 with the frosts of northern climates. In the vast plains which 

 extend to the south and east of the great chain of the Andes, the 

 rainy season observes an invariable order. The Orinoco begins 

 to rise in April, and attains its maximum of increase in July and 

 August, when the immense savannas which extend to the base 

 of the Andes are converted into the appearance of an inland 

 ocean. It decreases from this period, and the summer is reckon- 

 ed from October to April. In . the mountains, on the contrary, 

 the rains commence about the former month, and predominate, 

 with intervals of fair weather, till May or June. The winter of 

 the low lands, to the west and north of the Cordillera, both 

 on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, is governed by that of the 

 mountains, but with several curious localities. Thus, the rainy 

 season of Guayaquil is nearly as regular as that of the plains, be- 

 ing reckoned from the middle of December to the middle of May ; 

 while the thick forests, which further to the north cover the 

 provinces of Esmeraldas, Barbacoas, and Choco, produce, bj'' their 

 constant evaporation, an almost perpetual deluge. Wherever, on 

 the contrary, the Cordillera recedes to some distance from the coast, 

 as is the case with parts of the Venezuelan chain, the intermediate 

 country is parched often by a drought of several years. Mara- 

 caybo, and a considerable part of the province of Coro, are in- 

 stances where sandy plains, scantily shaded by Mimosas and 



