WEST INDIES. 



We have already observed, that between the two continents of 

 America lie a multitude of islands which we call the West Indies, 

 and which, such as are worth cultivation, now belong to five Euro- 

 pean powers, Great Britain, Spain, France, Holland, and Denmark. 

 As the climate and seasons of these islands differ widely from what 

 we can form any idea of by what we perceive at home, we shall, to 

 avoid repetitions, speak of them in general, and mention some other 

 particulars that are peculiar to the West Indies. 



The climate in all the West India islands is nearly the same, al- 

 lowing for those accidental differences which the several situations 

 and qualities of the lands themselves produce. As they lie within 

 the tropics, and the sun goes quite over their heads, passing beyond 

 them to the north, they are continually subjected to the extreme of 

 a heat which would be intolerable, if the trade wind, rising gradually 

 as the sun gathers strength, did not blow in upon them from the sea, 

 and refresh the air in such a manner, as to enable the cultivator to 

 attend to his business, even under the meridian sun. On the other hand, 

 as the night advances, a breeze begins to be perceived, which blows 

 smartly from the land, as it were from the centre, towards the sea, 

 to all points of the compass at once. 



In the same manner, when the sun advances towards the tropic of 

 Cancer, and becomes vertical, he draws after him such a vast body of 

 clouds, as shield the earth from his direct beams ; and dissolving 

 into rain, cool the air, and refresh the country, thirsty with the long 

 drought which commonly reigns from the beginning of January to 

 the latter end of May. 



The rains in the West Indies (and we may add in the East Indies) 

 are by no means so moderate as in Europe. Their heaviest rains are 

 but dews comparatively. They are rather floods of water, poured 

 from the clouds with a prodigious impetuosity ; the rivers rise in a 

 moment ; new rivers and lakes are formed, and in a short time all the 

 low country is under water.* Hence it is, the rivers which have their 

 source within the tropics, swell and overflow their banks at a certain 

 season ; but so mistaken were the ancients in their idea of the Torrid 

 Zone, that they imagined it to be dried and scorched up with a con- 

 tinued and fervent heat, and to be for that reason uninhabitable ; when, 

 in reality, some of the largest rivers of the world have their course 

 within its limits, and the moisture is one of the greatest inconvenien- 

 ces of the climate in several places. 



The rains make the only distinction of seasons in the West Indies ; 

 the trees are green the whole year round ; they have no cold, no frosts, 

 no snows, and but rarely some hail ; the storms of hail are, however, 



s * See Watson's Journey across the Isthmus of Darien. 



