Chap. XIII. 
TEMPERATURE OF SHANGHAE. 
213 
a plentiful supply of ice. I have, therefore, little doubt 
that in most years the thermometer may be found at 
least twenty degrees below the freezing-point, or at 12"^ 
of Fahrenheit, and perhaps even lower. Snow frequently 
falls, but the sun is too powerful to allow it to lie long 
on the ground. 
If we except the extremes of heat and cold just 
noticed, the climate of Shanghae may be pronounced as 
fine as any in the world. Even the cold in winter is 
highly advantageous to the natives, and still more so to 
Europeans and Americans, 'as it strengthens their con- 
stitutions, and enables them to withstand the effects of 
the excessive heat. The months of April, May, and 
June are delightful ; and although the sun is hot in the 
middle of the day, in the afternoon the air is soft and 
agreeable, and the evenings cool and pleasant. The 
autumnal months are generally of the same description ; 
the wind then is cool and bracing, and the sky is much 
clearer than in England. The sun, for days, and some- 
times for weeks together, rises in the morning, runs his 
course, and sets again in a clear and cloudless sky. 
The prevailing winds blow from the south-west from 
the end of April to the middle of September ; during 
the remaining portion of the year they are northerly and 
easterly : thus forming what are called the south-west 
and north-east monsoons. These monsoons blow with 
great regularity in the south of China, but are more 
variable towards the north. In the latitude of Chusan 
or Shanghae, although the monsoons prevail, the wind 
not unfreqnently blows from other quarters. In the 
end of the summer season, that is, from July to October, 
