v2 THE MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO. 
effects experienced in a more humid climate. Perspiration is 
most insensible. The residents represent that autumn is the pléas i 
antest portion of the year, and that this delicious season contin- 
ues until January, when the winter seriously sets in and continues — 
until May. The snows are not deep, and on the cliffs expose 
to the direct rays of the sun rarely remain over a few da ; 
Such is the climate in the cañons, but on the higher peaks a man 
tle of white begins to form late in September and continues to at- 
cumulate until spring. e 
The temperature at Denver, two thousand, one hundred and five 
feet above the sea, does not differ essentially from that at Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts, seventy-one feet above the sea, while the 
difference of latitude is about two degrees. This is shown in 
subjoined table : 
DENVER 
- Spr. Sum. Aut. Win. Mean. 
45. 69.0 39.9 30.3 46.2 
CAMBRIDGE. 
44.3 68.6 50.1 26.2 47.3 
1.3+ 4— 10.2— 4.14 i 
Mt. Washington, in New Hampshire, is six thousand six 
dred feet above the sea, and the little band of observers who 
year passed the winter upon its summit, encountered all the! 
ors of an arctic climate. At Idaho Springs, in the heart of the C0 
orado Mountains, and one thousand one hundred and forty- 
feet higher, cattle may pass the winter without shelter. A es 
breath permeates the valleys, mitigating the severity of wit 
and rendering the climate agreeable to the human system. 1) 
not pause to discuss the causes of this anomaly, so at varis 
with what is observed in other regions lying within the temp@™ 
zone. ra 
If we turn to the Alps, from which we naturally derive our ide 
of the effects of temperature by reason of elevation, we shat! © 
that far different conditions prevail. At the height of eight +0 
sand feet the line of perpetual snow is encountered, and not 
than four hundred glaciers exist, extending over an area of I 
teen hundred square miles. Mt. Blanc, fifteen thousand, seven © 
dred and forty-four feet above the sea, about fifteen hundred +% i 
higher than several of the Colorado Peaks, is scaled only by em” 
