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two Piritoo Islands, in three fathoms water, 

 the, thermometer was only 24*5°. The differ- 

 ence was constant. It would perhaps be great- 

 er, if the current, which runs with rapidity to- 

 ward the west, stirred up deeper waters ; and 

 if, in a pass of such small width, the land did 

 not contribute to raise the temperature of the 

 sea. The Piritoo Isles resemble those shoals 

 which become visible when the tide falls. They 

 do not rise more than eight or nine inches 

 above the mean height of the sea. Their sur- 

 face is all smooth, and covered with grass. We 

 might have thought we beheld one of our north- 

 ern meadows. The disk of the setting sun ap- 

 peared like a globe of fire suspended over the 

 savannah ; and it's last rays, as they swept the 

 earth, illumined the extremities of the grass, 

 strongly agitated by the evening breeze. In 

 the low and humid places of the equinoctial 

 zone, even when the gramineous plants and 

 reeds present the aspect of a meadow, or of 

 turf, a rich decoration of the picture is usually 

 wanting ; I mean that variety of wild flowers, 

 which, scarcely rising above the grass, seem to 

 lie upon a smooth bed of verdure. Between 

 the tropics, the strength and luxury of vegeta- 

 tion give such a developement to plants, that 

 the smallest of the dicotyledonous family be- 

 come shrubs. It would seem as if the liliace- 

 ous plants mingled with the gramina assumed 



