18 



springs which descend from the neighbouring 

 mountains of a greater height often indicate a 

 too rapid decrement of heat. If indeed we sup- 

 pose the mean temperature of the water on the 

 coast of Cumana equal to 26°, we must con- 

 clude, unless other local causes modify the 

 temperature of the springs, that the spring of 

 Quetepe acquires it's great coolness at more 

 than 350 toises of absolute elevation *. In 

 speaking of the springs, which gush out in the 

 plains of the torrid zone, or at a small eleva- 

 tion, I must observe in general, that it is only 

 in regions where the mean temperature of sum- 

 mer essentially differs from that of the whole 

 year, that the inhabitants can drink spring wa- 

 ter extremely cold during the season of the 

 great heats. The Laplanders, near Umea and 

 Soersele, in the 65th degree of latitude, drink 

 spring-water, the temperature of which, in the 

 month of August, is scarcely two or three de- 

 grees above the freezing pointy ; while in the 

 day the heat of the air rises in the shade, in 

 the same northern regions, to 26 or 27 degrees. 

 In the temperate climates of France and Ger- 

 many, the difference between the air and the 

 springs never exceeds 16 or 17 degrees; be- 

 tween the tropics it seldom rises to 5 or 6 



* Vol. II. p. 36, 142, 184. 



f Kongl, Vetenks. Acad. JNya Hand!., 1809, p. 205. 



