267 



The first zone, that of the vines, extends from 

 the seashore to two or three hundred toises of 

 height ; it is that which is most inhabited, and 

 the only part carefully cultivated. In these low 

 regions, at the port of Orotava, and wherever 

 the winds have free access, the centigrade ther- 

 mometer stands in winter, in the months of Ja- 

 nuary and February, at noon, between fifteen 

 and seventeen degrees ; and the strongest heats 

 of the summer do not exceed twenty-five or 

 twenty-six degrees : they are consequently five 

 or six degrees below the extremes, which the 

 thermometer annually reaches at Paris, Berlin, 

 and Petersburgh. These results are taken from 

 the observations made by Mr. Savaggi from 

 1795 to 1799.. The mean temperature of the 

 coasts of TenerifFe appears at least to rise to 

 twenty-one degrees (16*8° Reaumur), and their 

 climate holds the medium between the climate 

 of Naples, and that of the torrid zone. At the 

 island of Madeira, the mean temperatures of 

 the months of January and August are, accord- 

 ing to Heberden, from 17'7° to 23*8° ; while at 

 Rome they rise to 5*6° and 26*2°. But notwith- 



We find this term for latitude 28° 17 ; at least at 1950 toises 

 high, even in calculating it by interpolation between Etna and 

 the volcanoes of Mexico. This matter will be made entirely 



ft 



clear, when we shall have measured the western part of Atlas, 

 which near Morocco, in thirty degrees and a half of latitude, 

 *s covered with perpetual snows. 



