Cuar. XV.] CLIMATE OF CHINA. 277 
the mean temperature of Peking is only 54° of 
Fahrenheit, while that of Naples is 63°. But the 
thermometer at the Chinese capital sinks much 
lower during the winter than at Naples, so in 
summer does it rise somewhat higher; the rivers 
are said to be frozen for three or four months 
together, from December to March; while during 
the last embassy in September, 1816, we expe- 
rienced a heat of between 90° and 100° in the 
shade. Now it is well known that Naples, and 
other countries in the extreme south of Europe, are 
strangers to such a degree of long-continued cold, 
and not often visited by such heats. ‘ Europe,” 
observes Humboldt, ‘may be considered altogether 
as the western part of a great continent, and there- 
fore subject to all the influence which causes the 
western sides of continents to be warmer than the 
eastern; and at the same time more temperate, or 
less subject to excesses of both heat and cold, but 
principally the latter.” 
From my own tables, kept by Newman’s best 
registering thermometers, I find that at Hong-kong, 
. in the months of July and August—the two 
hottest months in the year—the mercury frequently 
stood as high as 90°, and one day at 94° Fahr. in 
the shade. The minimum was generally about ten 
degrees lower than the maximum. In the winter, 
from December to March, the thermometer fre- 
quently sinks nearly down to the freezing point, and 
sometimes, although rarely, snow has fallen at 
Canton and on the adjacent hills. ‘The influence of 
To 
