174 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



the equator, and yet the air of Hue is cool in comparifon 

 of that of Acapulco. That other propofition of Mr. de 

 Paw is equally falfe and improbable, namely, that in the 

 centre of the torrid zone the liquor of the thermometer 

 does not rife to fo great a height as it does in Paris in the 

 greateft heat of fu ner. If that was true, the dif- 

 ference between the American and European climates 

 would not be only twelve degrees, as Mr. de P. would 

 make it, but forty-nine, that is as much as the difference 

 of latitude between the centre of the torrid zone and 

 Paris. \t is true, that according to the obfervations made 

 in Quito and compared with thofe made in Paris, the 

 heat of that equinoctial city never equals that of Paris in 

 the fummer ; but it is equally certain, fhat according to 

 the obfervations made by the fame academicians with 

 the fame thermometers, in the city of Carthagena, which 

 is not the centre of the torrid zone, but ten degrees 

 from it, that the ufual heat of this city is equal to the 

 greateft heat of Paris, agreeably to the teftimony of 

 Ulloa, one of the obfervers (%). ► 



There are many reafons, befides vicinity to or dis- 

 tance from the equator, which make a country hot or 

 cold. The elevation of the foil, the neighbourhood of 

 fome lofty mountain covered with fnow, abundance of 

 rains, &c. contribute much to the coolnefs of the atmof- 

 phere ; and, on the contrary, low ground, fcarcity of 

 water, drowths, &c. mud increafe the heat. Ci-vidad 

 Real, the capital of the diocefs of Chiapa, becaufe it 

 is fituated on a high ground, is cool f. and the city of 



Chiapa, 



(z) Tn the year 1735, at Carthagena, the liquor of the thermometer of 

 Reaumur kept at 1025^, without any variation, except that fometimes it fell 

 to 1024, or rofe to 1026. At Paris, the fame year, it never rofe higher than 

 1025%, in the greatefb. heats of July and Auguft. Ulloa Relation del Viage a la 

 America Meridional^ part i. tom. I. 



