122 A VOYAGE TO BoofcIII. 



ly, that in Carthagena, Porto Bello, and Panama, the 

 inhabitants have a very fingnlar pronunciation ; and 

 as fome nations have a haughty accent, forne a pohte- 

 nefs in their manner of expreflion, and others fpeak in 

 a very quick manner ; fo here their pronunciation has 

 a faintnefs and languor, which is very difagreeable, 

 till we are reconciled to it bv cuftom. And what is 

 iiiii more particular, each of thefe three cities has a 

 different accent in this langour ; befides particular fyl- 

 iables peculiar to each, and no lefs different than they 

 are from the manner of fpeaking ufed in Spain. This 

 may, in fome meafure, flow from an ill habit of body, 

 weakened by the exceffive heat of the climate ; but I 

 believe it is principally owing to cuftom. 



The only difference between the cHmate of Cartha- 

 gena and this is, that fummer begins later and ends 

 fooner, as, the longer the brifas delay their return, the 

 fooner they are over. From many thermometrical ob- 

 fervations made on feveral days without any fcnfible 

 difference betwixt them at the fame hours, on the 5th 

 and 6th of January 1736, at fix in the morning, they 

 found the liquor at 1020-J, at noon i023|,and at 3 in 

 the afternoon at 1025. But, at th,e;^Tame time, it 

 muff be obferved, that the brifas now began to blow, 

 and, confequently, was not the time of the greateft 

 heats ; thefe prevailing in the months of Auguit, Sep- 

 tember, and Odober. 



Though this chmate would naturally be fuppofed to 

 produce the fame plants with others in the fame lati- 

 tude, it is very different. Nor does this feem to pro- 

 ceed from any defeat in the foil, but from the fondnefs 

 of the inhabitants for trade, and their total negledt of 

 agriculture, as too laborious. But, be the real caufe 

 of it what it will, this is certain, that even in the parts 

 contiguous to the city, the land is left entirely to na- 

 ture nor does the lead veftige remain of its being 

 formerly cultivated. From hence proceeds a fcarcity 

 of all things, and, coniequentiy, they are fold at a high 



price, 



