Travels in North America. '99 



this Country abounds ; but he feems to go too far ; for there is 

 nothing to anfwer againft Experience, which makes us fenfible of 

 the Abatement of the Cold, in Proporti; n as the Country is clear- 

 ed of the Woods, altho' is not *in fo great a Proportion as it 

 ought to be, if the Thicknefs of the Woods was the principal 

 Caufe of it. What he allows himfelf, that it is common to fee 

 a Froft in Summer after a very hot Day, appears to me a De- 

 monftration againil him ; for how can we explain this Phœno- 

 menon other wife, than by faying that the Sun having opened 

 in the Day Time the Pores of the Earth, the Moiilure that 

 was inclofed in it, and the nitrous Particles which the Snow left 

 in it in great Quantities, and the Heat which is continued 

 after the fetting of the Sun, in an Air fo fubtil as that we breathe 

 in this Country, form thefe little Frofts in the fame Manner as 

 we make Ice on the Fire : Now the Moifture of the Air is 

 evidently a great Part of the Caufe of the Cold ; and from 

 whence fhould this Moifture come in a Country where the Soil 

 is generally mixt with much Sand, if it was not from the 

 Lakes and the Rivers, from the Thicknefs of the Forefts, and 

 from Mountains covered with Snow, which in melting water 

 the Plains, and from Winds which carry the Exhalations every 

 where. 



But if Father BreJJani was miflaken, as I think, from exclud- 

 ing all thefe Things from the Caufes of the exceflive Cold of 

 Canada^ what he fubftitutes in Lieu thereof, feems to me to 

 contribute greatly towards it. There are, fays he, in the hot- 

 teft Climates, fome moift Lands, and there are fome very dry in 

 the coldell Countries : Buta certain Mixture of dry and moift 

 makes Ice and Snow, the Quantity of which makes the Excefs 

 and Duration of the Cold. Now if one was to travel but very 

 little in Canada^ we fhould perceive this Mixture in a very re- 

 markable Manner. It is without Contradiction a Country 

 where there is the moll Water of any Country in tlie World, 

 and there are few, where the Soil is more mixt with Stones and 

 Sand. Add to this, it feldom rains here, and the Air is ex- 

 tremely pure and healthy ; a certain Proof of the natural Dry- 

 nefs of the Earth. In Fdél, Father Breffhni afhrms, that during 

 fixteen Years that the Million fubiifted in the Country of the 

 Hurons, there lived there at the fame Time llxty French?nen^ many 

 of whom were of a tender Conilitution ; that they all fared very 

 hardly in Point oi Diet, and faifered in other Refpedls beyond 

 all Imagination, and that not one died. 



In Fad, this prodigious Multitude of Rivers and Lakes, 

 which occupy as much Space in hle^jj France as half the Lands 

 n Europe^ one would imagine fhould furniih the Air with new 

 Vapours j but; befides that the greateft Part of thefe Waters 



O 2 , are 



