32 On the supposed Change 



climate has suffered a melioration in winter of ten or 

 twelve degrees. 



But we have here another instance of the fallacy of 

 such general conclusions. In the first place Wood does 

 not say that during the ten weeks of winter, the ice was 

 never broken up by thaws, as it is in modern times ; on 

 the other hand, his expressions fairly intimate that such 

 thaws were common ; for he observes that about the 21st 

 of February, the rivers and bays are unlocked, and " are 

 never again frozen the same yeai'." This expression 

 doubtless alludes to the well known and common occur- 

 rence, that rivers, cleared of ice at an earlier period, 

 were covered with ice again, in the same winter. 



But that such thaws occurred, at that period, I have 

 direct proof from Winthrop's Journal. In 1634, De- 

 cember 4th, old stile, a violent snow storm was followed 

 by a severe frost that covered Boston bay with ice in two 

 days, but " it was free again before night." In the 

 middle of January, a pinnace came to Boston from Port 

 Royal ; and about the end of the month, a boat coming 

 from Deer's Island was detained at Bird's Island ; and 

 also others were detained at an Island in the harbor by 

 the ice, which was not sufficient to bear a man. After 

 that the ice was firm for two or three weeks. This was 

 no uncommon occurrence ; a " January thaw" is a pro- 

 verb handed down to us from our ancestors. That 

 was a hard winter, yet many persons fell through the ice 

 and were drowned. 



But our ancestors had also mild winters, which made 

 little or no ice in rivers or bays. Such was the winter of 

 1633 — 4, next preceding that last mentioned. Win- 

 throp says expressly " this winter was mild, little wind 

 and most S. and S. W." The last of February, fell a 

 deep snow, but the winter was at an end. This is de- 

 cisive evidence that the winters have been from the first 

 settlement of America, variable, now mild, now severe, 

 just as they are in the present age. 



In 1635, Connecticut river was closed with ice No- 

 vember 15, old stile [26] at Hartford, but at Saybrook, 

 not till December 10th [21]. This was a severe winter. 



