8 



winds in a shorter space of time, and keeping 

 them the greater part of the passage. At the 

 time of my abode in the Spanish colonies, I 

 witnessed the arrival of several merchant ships, 

 which the fear of privateers had determined to 

 choose the oblique course, and that had a very 

 short passage ; it is only after repeated trials, 

 that we can decide with certainty on an object, 

 at least as important as the choice of the meri- 

 dian, at which the equator should be cut in the 

 navigation from Europe to Buenos Ayres or Cape 

 Horn. 



Nothing equals the beauty and mildness of 

 the climate of the equinoctial region on the 

 ocean. While the trade wind blew strongly, 

 the thermometer kept at 23 or 24 degrees in 

 the day, and at 22 or 225 degrees during the 

 night. To feel the full charm of these happy 

 climates bordering on the equator, the passage 

 from Acapulco or the coasts of Chili to Europe 

 should be undertaken in a very rough season. 

 What a contrast between the tempestuous seas 

 of the northern latitudes, and the regions where 

 the calm of nature is never disturbed ! If the 

 return from Mexico or South America to the 

 coasts of Spain were as expeditious and as agree- 

 able as the passage from the old to the new con- 

 tinent, the number of Europeans settled in the 

 colonies would be much less considerable than 

 it is at present. The sea which surrounds the 



