BY JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER, LL. D, j 



of 'Tcnquifiy and runs out into other branches. At the root of 



this mountain the temperature of the air is very various ; for in 



the winter feaibn the country is buried in fnow and froft, not, 



however, for a long time. Thofe fummits alone from which the 



Sind and Ganges are principally fed, are covered with perpetual 



fnow. Yet even the plain traft at the mouths of the Ganges is 



not entirely free from froft during winter, fince the inhabitants 



collect ice artificially prepared, for cooling liquors in the heat of 



fummer, although Fahrenheit'% thermometer never finks below GaeAT Heat*. 



42. But in the fummer feafon the inhabitants undergo the moft 



intenfe heats, arifing to the 114th, nay even to the 120th degree 



oi Fahrenheit' i thermometer; fo that men. are fcarcely able to 



breathe, plunge into water up to the chin, and afcend the higher 



trees that they may inhale a fomewhat cooler breeze; whilft 



they whofe occupations oblige them to endure the hot air abroad^ 



not unfrequently fall fuddenly dead. The birds too are often 



killed by the heat, while flying, or fitting on trees, and fall to the 



ground. 



Then, as the flat country is inundated about the folftice by the 

 fwoln waters of the Ganges, which returning into their channel, 

 leave many ftagnant pools, the exhalations raifed by the fun's 

 heat form a body of intenfely hot vapour, extremely noxious, 

 fo as to occafion putrid fevers of the higheft malignity, which 

 frequently prove fatal within three hours. 



Let us now pafs into the peninfula of India on this fide the 

 Ganges, and examine the nature of its climate and foil. This. 

 part of India is divided into two parts by the ridge of mountains 

 called Gatte ; and while fummer reigns on one fide, winter pre- 

 vails on the other. This chiefly proceeds from the winds, which, 



from 



