Chap. XIII. 
CLIMATE OF CHINA. 
211 
as the thermometer at the Chinese capital sinks much 
lower during the winter than at Naples, so in summer does 
it rise somewhat higher ; the rivers are said to be frozen 
for three or four months together, from December to 
March ; while during the last embassy in September, 
1816, we experienced a heat of between 90° and 100° in 
the shade. Now it is well known that Naples, and 
other countries in the extreme south of Europe, are 
strangers to such a degree of long-continued cold, and 
not often visited by such heats. ' Europe,' observes 
Humboldt, ' may be considered altogether as the west- 
ern part of a great continent, and therefore subject to 
all the influence which causes the western sides of con- 
tinents to be warmer than the eastern ; and at the 
same time more temperate, or less subject to excesses of 
both heat and cold, but principally the latter.' " 
From my own tables, kept by Newman's best regis- 
tering thermometers, I find that at Hong-kong, in the 
months of July and August — the two hottest months in 
the year — the mercury frequently stood as high as 90°, 
and one day at 94° Fahr. in the shade. The minimum 
was generally about ten degrees lower than the maxi- 
mum. In the winter, from December to March, the 
thermometer frequently sinks nearly down to the freez- 
ing-point, and sometimes, although rarely, snow has 
fallen at Canton and on the adjacent hills. The influ- 
ence of the sea, however, in this part of the empire, 
has a tendency to check the extremes of both heat and 
cold ; but these are much greater in the northern interior. 
The northerly winds in the winter and spring months 
are severely cold in the south of China ; indeed I have 
