326 



shade, absorbs so much heat, that, notwithstand- 

 ing the nocturnal radiation toward a sky without 

 clouds, the earth and air have not time to cool 

 very sensibly from midnight to sunrise. At 

 Calabozo *, the heat of the day, in the month of 

 March, was from 31° to 32*5° ; of the night, 

 from 28 a to 29°. The mean of this month, 

 which is not the hottest in the year, appeared to 

 be nearly 30*6°; which denotes an enormous 

 heat for a country situate within the tropics, 

 where the days are almost constantly of the 

 same duration as the nights. The mean tem- 



* At Calabozo, in the shade, and very far from the ground, 

 or walls, on the 15th of March 1800, at l h Reaumur's therm, 

 was 24*2° j the whale -bone byg., 36° : at seven in the evenings 

 th. 25°; hyg. 35'2°: at 12 h th. 23 2° ; h. 35 4°. The 16th of 

 March, at 17 h , th. 22 7° j h. 36* : at 23 h , th. 24-2° ; b. 37° ; 

 atO h , th. 23'8o- h. 35°: at 2 fe , th. 26»; h. 34-3*: at 4|\ 

 th. 25-5°; b. 33 5° : at7h, th. 24'6 & ; h. 33-5°. The 17th of 

 March, at 16 h , th. 26 3° ; h. 34o : at 12\ th. 22*4° ; h. 35a a . 

 The 18th of March, at 23*, th. 23 2°; h. 36° : till Jl% at 

 night, not a variation of 0*5° in the two instruments. I think 

 that the climate of Calabozo is still hotter than that of Cu- 

 mana. Having engaged Mr. Rubio, to make observations in 

 this port during my absence, I am enabled to compare the 

 same days. At Cumana Reaumur's therm, kept from the 

 15th to the 18th of March, from 7 1 * in the morning to 11 in 

 the evening, between 20° and 24°. At Calabozo, 130 leagues 

 distant from the eastern coasts, at the same hours, it was 

 from 23° to 26°. At Cumana, the temperature of the month 

 of March, 1800, was 22*2°; at Calabozo, nearly 24 5° 

 Reaum. 



