42 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP PERU. 



twenty maritime leagues. The breadth of this distri6l may be 

 estimated at fifteen leagues, more or less. 



13. The phenomenon which results from the want of rain 

 in low Peru, is an atmosphere perpetually loaded with fogs, 

 which melt away into dews, without ever producing the me- 

 teors of thunder and lightning, such as are observed in the 

 countries subject to rains, &c. 



14. I do not know whether there are any rainbows in the 

 distri6ts referred to. Never having been in that part of the 

 country, I am equally at a loss to reply to several other points 

 in the question. The rest is answered antecedently. 



15. I am unacquainted with any phenomena peculiar to 

 Peru, those excepted which have already been recapitulated. 



The answers to the preceding queries may tend to throw further light on a 

 point which has engaged the attention of the philosophic world. The gentleman by whom 

 the queries were proposed, has perhaps justly ascribed the peculiar phenomena of the Peru- 

 vian climate to the effect of the Andes mountains on the eledtricity of the atmosphere. In 

 1795, he publicly expressed the opinion, that the same effedls may be produced artificially 

 on other countries, by the eredion of metallic conductors of a sufficient height. The so- 

 lution of this problem must depend on experiments, the magnitude of which, as well as 

 the expences attendant on them, must be reserved for a future and more philosophic age. 

 In the interim, it is pleasing to contemplate, that, by availing ourselves of the means which 

 Nature has pointed out to us, we might, on this suggestion, be able to convert the variable 

 and fickle atmosphere of Great Britain, into a climate as serene, steady, and beautiful, as 

 that of low Peru. 



PART 



