212 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XIII. 
suffered more from cold at Hong-kong and Macao in the 
month of February than I have ever done in England. 
At Shanghae, in the province of Keangsoo, in latitude 
31° 20' north, the extremes of heat and cold are much 
greater than what we experienced in the southern pro- 
vinces. Through the kindness of Dr. Lockhart, who 
kept up my meteorological tables during my absence in 
different parts of the country, I have obtained a very 
complete set of observations for nearly two years. From 
these it appears that in July and August the heat is the 
greatest ; the thermometer in the shade sometimes 
standing for several days at 100° of Fahrenheit. The 
heat during these days was almost insupportable to 
Europeans, who, when I was in Shanghae, were obhged 
to live in Chinese houses, which, from their construction, 
were ill calculated to exclude the heat. In the end of 
October the thermometer sometimes sinks as low as 
the freezing-point. In the evening of the 28th of that 
month in 1844, the remains of the cotton and other 
tropical plants which are cultivated in the fields during 
the summer were destroyed by frost. December, Jan- 
uary, and February are the coldest months in the year, 
the cold then being quite as severe as it is with us in 
the south of England. In the winter of 1844-45 the 
thermometer sank as low as 26° Fahrenheit. On the 
night of the 18th of December, and again on January 
the 4th, the index was left at 24°. But that winter, 
according to Chinese accounts, was peculiarly mild, so 
much so, that the usual supply of ice could not be pro- 
cured. In ordinary years the ponds and canals are 
frequently frozen several inches in thickness, and afford 
