174 
EXTEEMB TEMEEBATUEES. 
than that of the Havannah ; and the latter town and Canton 
are, within nearly a minute, on the same parallel. The ther- 
mometer at Canton has sometimes almost reached the point 
zero ; and by the effect of reflection, ice has been found on 
the terraces of houses. Although this great cold never 
fenton°7iS^f mercLnts residing at 
Canton like to make chimney-fires in their apartments 
artifiei^l°r“^fE 5 at the Havannah, the 
ai tificial warmth even of a brazero is not required. Hail is 
frequent and the hail-stones are extremely large in tin 
appears to be very remarkable), snow has never been seen to 
“°*'''i<=*i®tanding the great lowering of the tempe- 
rature the bananas and the palm-trees are as beautiful 
».™i p'“* 
In the island of Cuba the lowering of the temperature 
durationfthat in 
oeneial neither the banana, the sugar-cane, nor other pro- 
ductions of the tomd zone, suffer much. We know how 
weff ^ants of vigorous organization resist temporarv cold, 
and that the orange trees of Genoa survive the &U of snow, 
and endure cold which does not more than exceed 6° or 7“ 
vegetation of the island of 
.Vpo” * character of the vegetation of the regions 
near the equator we are surprized to find even in the 
pla ns a vegetable form of the temperate climates, and 
mountaiins of the equatonal part of Mexico. I have often 
directed the attention of botanists to this extraordinarv 
phenomenon in the geography of plants. The pine (Pin us 
occidentahs) IS not found in the tesser Antilles; not even 
in Jamaica (between Wf" and 18f of latitude). It is oMy 
seen further north, in the mountains of San Domingo, 
OQ^o of Cuba, situated be- 
tween 20 and 23 lat. It attains a height of from 
sixtv to seventy feet; and it is remarkable that the 
eahoba* (mahogany), and the pine vegetate at the island 
* Swieteinia Mahoganij Xmn. 
