CLIMATE, 



269 



its mouth. The river, however, has never been 

 ascended since Villarino^s voyage. 



Doubtless some of these rivers are destined, 

 at a future period, to facilitate the commerce of 

 these regions with civilized nations; but at 

 present they only offer obstructions to the ad- 

 vance of the traveller and the loaded mule, 

 across the plain. 



The climate of the Pampas in winter is said 

 to be like our month of November, which cor- 

 responds with their April. Hard frosts are then 

 frequent at night; and in their spring (which is 

 our autumn) I often found a fire very accept- 

 able at Buenos Ayres. But the climate in the 

 same latitudes is found to vary, in proportion 

 to the distance from the Atlantic, and the 

 greater altitude above the sea. The damp 

 mosquito-haunted region, extending for the 

 first five hundred miles from Buenos Ayres, 



