CLIMATE. 



157 



during the months of November, December, and 

 January, while at Havana fires are never needed. 



Hail of large size frequently falls in the Asiatic coun- 

 tries round Canton and in Macao, while at Havana 

 fifteen years will pass without a single fall of hail. 

 In all three of these places the thermometer will some- 

 times stand for hours between 0° and 4° 0. (32° and 

 39°.7 F.) ; yet notwithstanding (which seems to me 

 more strange), it has never been known to snow; and 

 although the temperature falls so low, the banana 

 and the palm grow as well in the neighborhoods of 

 Canton, Macao, and Havana, as in the plains imme- 

 diately under the equator. 



In the present state of the world it is an advantage 

 to the study of meteorology, that we can gather so 

 many numerical elements of the climates of coun- 

 tries situate almost immediately under the tropics. 

 The five great cities of the commercial world — Can- 

 ton, Macao, Calcutta, Havana, and Rio Janeiro, are 

 found in this position. Besides these, we have in the 

 Northern hemisphere, Muscat, Syene, New Santan- 

 der, Durango, and the Northern Sandwich Islands ; 

 in the Southern hemisphere — Bourbon, Isle of France, 

 and the port of Cobija, between Copiapo and Arica, 

 places much frequented by Europeans, and which 

 present to the naturalist the same advantages of 

 position as Rio Janeiro and Havana. 



