Valley of the Mississippi. U 



3. That the Catalpa, if indigenous to the United States, is only 

 found so in the Carolinas and Georgia on the coast, and on the 

 banks of the Wabash in the interior, six or seven degrees north of 

 the former, and can establish no standard by which to ascertain 

 the comparative temperature of the climate of these different sec- 

 tions : if introduced it proves rather the converse of Mr. Jefferson's 

 theory, as it is found in the vicinity of New-York, more than three 

 degrees north of the northern limit which he has assigned for it or* 

 the Mississippi. 



4. That the reed is comparatively rare in the United States, ex- 

 cept in the valley of the Mississippi, and that its occurrence here 

 does not depend upon the superior mildness of the climate. 



5. That the paroquet is found resident in the valley of the Mis- 

 sissippi as high as latitude 42° north, and that it is capable of en- 

 during almost any degree of cold ; and that its preference to this 

 region depends upon the greater abundance of its favourite food. 



Proceeding in the history of this theory we come next to the ob- 

 servations of M. Volney, a French traveller, who visited the United 

 States in the year 1795,*— a man of science and observation, who 

 eame hither to study our climate, laws and inhabitants, and " to try," 

 as he expresses himself, " whether a sincere friend of that liberty, 

 whose name had been so profaned, could find for his declining 

 years a peaceful asylum, of which Europe no longer afforded him 

 any hope." His work throughout bears the impress of genius ; 

 but it is to be regretted that many of his opinions have been rash- 

 ly adopted, and betray not only a limited knowledge of facts, but a 

 great want of judgment and discrimination. He often exercises 

 his ingenuity at the expense of truth, and bends the observations 

 he made abroad to suit the theories which he had formed at 

 home. Without citing other instances, his remarks on the sub- 

 ject now under discussion, will abundantly prove the correctness 

 of these assertions. 



By a reference to Volney's " View," we find as the text to one 

 of his sections on climate, the following assertion, viz : " The cli- 

 mate of the basin of the Ohio and of the Mississippi is less cold % 

 three degrees of latitude than that of the Atlantic coast "f From 

 the unqualified manner in which this is introduced, it might natur- 



* View of the climate and soil of the United States of America, &c. by C. F. Vol- 

 t Page 142, London Edition. 



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