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it expands also an immense distance to the 

 westward; therefore the winds between the 

 north-east and north-west, passing over a less 

 surface of water than in the same portion of the 

 other hemisphere, are consequently divested of 

 a smaller quantity of their intense frigor, and 

 afterwards sweeping across the immense chain 

 of mountains covered with perpetual snows 

 and ice that intersects the whole of these cheer- 

 less regions, they acquire a penetrating severity 

 by traversing so vast a track of frozen ground, 

 that even their progress into lower latitudes 

 cannot disarm them of. Of these winds the 

 north-west is the most rigorous ; and even in 

 summer, as soon as it prevails, the transition 

 from heat to cold is so sudden, that the ther- 

 mometer has been known to fall nearly thirty 

 degrees in a very few hours. The highest range 

 of the summer heat is usually between 96 and 

 102 degrees of Fahrenheit ; but an atmosphere, 

 always particularly pure, abates the oppressive 

 fervor felt in other parts at the same point. In 

 winter the mercury sometimes sinks to 31 de- 

 grees below zero, but this must be considered 

 its very greatest depression, and as happening 

 only once or twice in a season, or perhaps not 

 more than thrice in two seasons, and then its 

 continuance rarely exceeds 48 hours ; but the 

 general range of cold in medium years may be 



