184 HEAT OF THE WATERS : CLIMATE, 



and on the whole Coromandel Coast, and on the 

 Island of Ceylon, districts of such uncommon fer- 

 tility, and so well known for the luxuriance of their 

 vegetation, and shown by their mean annual tem- 

 perature of 27° C. (80°-6 E.), to be amon g the 

 warmest on the globe, are, nevertheless, no hotter, 

 but even generally more temperate, than the North 

 of India, than Central Egypt, or than Louisiana, 

 where, however, the mean temperature is lower. It 

 is these high summer temperatures that enable us 

 to grow cotton — a plant which is a native of the 

 torrid zone — with advantage, at many places far 

 beyond the tropics ; as, for instance, in the Southern 

 States of North America, in Egypt, in Asia Minor, 

 and even on the southern coasts of Europe. On 

 the southern coast of Iceland, the yearly mean of 

 temperature is not lower than at Petersburg, and 

 the winter but little colder than at Odessa. 

 However the peasants of this island, on account of 

 the coolness of the summer months, can do little 

 farming beyond the breeding of cattle, and the so- 

 called forests there consist of nothing but stunted 

 birch. In the Earoe Islands, where in winter it 

 is warmer than at Milan, on the Island of Sitkha 

 on the coast of Russian America, and on the 

 Falkland Isles, the same mean temperature is 

 found as at Dantzig, and a higher than at 

 Konigsberg. But while the eastern provinces of 

 Prussia are pretty thickly occupied by an active 



