186 TRAVELS AMONOST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. x. 



some ^[eteorological observations^ Avhicli were said to have been 

 made by Sefior Carlos Aguirre, thirty-three years before, at the 

 Hacienda of x\ntisana. These observations had a particular in- 

 terest for me, for they gave information respecting the weather 

 we were likely to experience at great heights in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Equator. It appeared from them that the 

 elevated farm where they were made enjoyed a very equable 

 temperature, and was abundantly provided with fogs. Tempera- 

 ture was highest in January and lowest in August, and the 

 mean for the year (1846) was found to be 5° '18 C. (equal to a 

 little more than 41° Faht.). In 375 days there were recorded 

 130 of fog, 122 rainy, 36 with snow, and only 34 on which the 

 sky was visible." 



After crossing the Rio Pita,^ the weather kept up its character, 

 and black thunder-clouds gathered in all directions. Foreseeing 

 the tempest, we hurried for shelter to a large farm, the Hacienda 

 Oolegio, and just escaped a tremendous downpour. The sudden 

 irruption of a score of men and beasts was treated as a matter 

 of course. We were received with the greatest urbanity, and on 

 leaving at 4.45 on the following morning were provided with a 

 guide as far as the small village of Pintac — midway between the 



^ Beterminatmt de la hauteur da mercure dans le harometre sous Pequateicr ; 

 amplitude des variations diurnes barometriques d diverses stations dans les Cordilleres, 

 par M. Boussiugault. Comptes JRendus hebdomadaires des seances de VAcad. des 

 Sciences, tome Ixxxviii., No. 24. 



^ Upon my return (through a reference made by Dr. W. Reiss) I found that these 

 observations had also appeared in the Comptes Rendus in 1851 (tome xxxii.) There 

 are numerous discrepancies between these papers. In the one published in 1879 it is 

 stated that the greatest observed diurnal variation of the barometer (in 1846) was 

 1-65 mm., on April 27 ; while in the other paper there is a record of 1'69 mm., on 

 March 12, 1846. The mean annual temperature is said in vol. Ixxxviii. to have 

 been 5°-18 C, and in vol. xxxii. it is seen to have been 4°-86 C. It is desirable 

 that some one should point out which of these two papers is to be considered 

 authoritative. 



3 The Rio Pita was running very rapidly here. Our animals crossed it by 

 swimming, and were carried down about a quarter of a mile before they came 

 to land. 



