347 



rains on the banks of the Rio Negro, almost the 

 whole year, with the exception of the months of 

 December and January. Even in the season of 

 drought the blue sky is seldom seen during two 

 or three days in succession. In serene weather 

 the heat appears so much greater, as the rest of 

 the year, although the nocturnal temperature is 

 twenty-one degrees, the inhabitants complain of 

 cold during the night. I repeated the ex- 

 periments at San Carlos, which I had made 

 at Javita, on the quantity of rain that falls 

 in a given space of time. These researches are 

 important" for explaining the enormous swell- 

 ings of the rivers near the equator, which were 

 long thought to receive the snow-waters of 

 the Cordilleras. I have seen fall at different 

 times, in two hours, 7*5 lines ; in three hours, 

 18 lines; in 9 hours, 48*2 lines. At it rains 

 without intermission (a small, but very thick 

 rain), I have thought, that the quantity of water, 

 which falls annually in the forests, can not be 

 less than ninety or one hundred inches. The 

 justness of this estimation, however extraordi- 

 nary it may appear, was confirmed by observa- 

 tions made with great care in the kingdom of 

 New Spain by the colonel of engineers, Mr. de 



copiam, ex crebris imbribus collectam, in alimentum suum 

 nemora ducunt : dies saepe nubili j nocturno tempore aer 

 spiritu fere movetur nullo. Alt. 130 hex. j cal. med...23'2°. 



