CLIMATE. 



155 



eastern shore of America. The means of temperature 

 at Bio J aneiro are deduced from three thousand five 

 hundred observations made by Senor Benito Sanchez 

 Dorta ; those of Macao from twelve hundred observa- 

 tions which the Abb6 Bichenet has kindly sent me. 



Mean. Havana, Macao, Rio Janeiro, 



N. lat. 23° 9'. N. lat. 22' 12'. S. lat. 22° 54'. 



For the year, 78Q.26 F. 73Q.94 F. 74^.30 F. 



" " hottest month, 83°.84 F. 83°. 12 F. 80°.96 F. 



" " coldest « 69°.98F. 61°.88 F. 68° F. 



The climate of Havana, notwithstanding the 

 frequent prevalence of north and northwest winds, 

 is warmer than either that of Macao or Bio 

 Janeiro. The first named of these places is some- 

 what cold, because of the west winds which prevail 

 along the eastern shores of the great continent. The 

 proximity of very broad stretches of land, covered 

 with mountains and high plains, makes the distribu- 

 tion of heat through the months of the year, more 

 unequal at Macao and Canton, than in an island 

 bordered by sea-shores upon the west, and on the 

 north by the heated waters of the Gulf Stream. Thus 

 it is that at Canton and Macao the winters are much 

 more severe than at Havana. 



The mean temperatures of December, January, 

 February, and March, at Canton, in 1801, were be- 



