38 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF PERU. 



is composed, the most solid and ponderous. It is therefore 

 Peru that adjusts and maintains the equihbrium of tlie globe. 

 Peru, in which the prodigal hand of Nature has stored up all 

 the produ£lions she has dispersed in the vast territories which 

 lie on the other side of the Equator ; Peru, in which, uniting 

 two different worlds, she has raised to herself a temple worthy 

 of her immensity, is what, in the rotations of the terrestrial 

 planet, prevents the ruin of many an opulent kingdom, of 

 many a warlike nation, and of Europe itself, the theatre of 

 the grandeur and wisdom of man. 



The following queries relative to the phenomena of the cli- 

 mate of certain distri6ts in Peru, were proposed by an intelli- 

 gent friend of the Editor to a learned Peruvian residing in the 

 British Capital. The replies, which are subjoined, may tend 

 to illustrate several physical points relative to a country which 

 off'ers distin6l chara6i;eristics from the rest of the globe, and 

 which has recently excited a more than common curiosity in 

 the philosophical world. 



■ I . Does it ever rain in those parts of Peru which are com- 

 monly exempt from that phenomenon ? 



2. Are those distri6ls uniformly bounded on the east by the 

 mountains ? 



3. What is the general height of those mountains ? 



4. Does a stratum of clouds, supposed to proceed from the 

 Atlantic Ocean, regularly settle at a particular height on the 

 eastern side of those mountains ? 



5. Is that stratum of clouds higher than the vacancies which 

 exist between the several mountains? and, if so, do the 



clouds 



