116 



we might call it the temperature of spring, 

 Water, exposed to currents of air in vessels of 

 porous clay, cools at Caripe, during the night, 

 as low as 13° *. ' I need scarcely observe, that 

 this water appears almost ice to travellers, who 

 arrive at the convent in one day, either from 

 the coast, or from the burning savannahs of 

 Terezen ; and who consequently are accustom- 

 ed to drink the water of rivers, the temperature 

 of which is commonly from 25° to 26® of the 

 centigrade thermometer^. 



The mean temperature of the valley of Ca- 

 ripe, inferred from that of the month of Sep- 

 tember, appears to be 18'5°. Under this zone, 

 according to observations made at Cumana, the 

 temperature of September differs hardly half a 

 degree from that of the whole year. The mean 

 temperature of Caripe is equal to that of June 

 at Paris, where nevertheless the extreme heats 

 are ten degrees above those of the hottest days 

 in Caripe. The elevation of the convent being 

 only four hundred toises, the rapidity of the 

 decrement of heat from the coasts may appear 

 surprising. The thickness of the forests pre- 

 vents any reverberation from the soil, which is 

 soft and humid, and covered with a thick mat- 

 ting of plants and mosses. During weather 



* 10-4° Reaurn. 



1 From 20° to 20*8° Reantn. 



