ATMOSl'IlllJUC CU it 11 KITTS. 
147 
the zeuitii can have so powerful an influence on the meteo- 
rological variations ? 1 am of opinion that no local cause 
determines the commencement of the rains within the tro- 
1 es l and that a more intimate knowledge of the higher 
■' erits °f :,d ' will elucidate these problems, so complicated 
i a Ppeanitice. We can observe only what passes in the 
i, i e T. strata of the atmosphere. The Andes aro scarcely 
tW 1 - , b, T oud t]l .e height of two thousand toises; and at 
tail lei P. . the proximity of the soil, and the masses of moun 
Ji i ls ’ which form the shoals of the aerial ocean, have a sen- 
tliB i i , lienee on the ambient air. What we observe on 
. ta is no j. we ,^ 0 uld find at the 
sll „,. e weight in a balloon, hovering over the Llanos or the 
' driace oi the ocean. 
th e have just seen that the season of rains and storms in 
i h B nor equinoctial zone coincides witli the passage of 
JiI lm ^ 0U 8 h tl , 10 ,/unit h of the place* with the ces- 
of \ 0 ' 1C ‘ norLh-easfe breezes, and with the frequency 
soutir mS j h(mdava ^\ which are stormy winds from 
I i ' e «st and south-west, accompanied by a cloudy sky. 
equiin™ tha j’ , in reflcctin g on the general laws of the 
sphe num oi the gaseous masses constituting our atmo- 
hlow re r W6 ma ^ r u ^ ie interruption of the current that 
of , }1 - S . m 1111 homonymous polo, in the want of the renewal 
an ‘„ r ln the tomd zone, and in the continued action of 
e oinr-n ending humid cuwent > a very simple cause of the 
hre e7 A m UB ol t . hese phenomena, While the north-easterly 
prevent « WS Wl6 ^ ad * ts v '°Ienee Bort h of the equator, it 
««d sp i he atmos P here which covers the equinoctial lands 
moist v e , satura * ni g itse1 ;' with moisture. The hot and 
to ^ai'd s ll fk ^ i t01T ^ . Z01le rises aloft, and flows off again 
drie r n, ttle poles; while inferior polar currents, bringing 
the co colder strata > are every instant taking the place of 
tvr 0 or,n ■ T 0t ascendin g air. By this constant action of 
luted ]f°i| currents , hhe humidity, far from being accumu- 
and ten 10 e fi ua to. r i a l region, is carried towards the cold 
"'hieh uT? re gi° DS - -During this season of breezes, 
, ^ '"'hen the sun is in the southern signs, the 
betw een t j j’* ssa B es take place, in the fifth and tentli degrees of north lat. 
0d ‘he 8th of Septemb 8 16th ° f Apri1 ’ and between the 27th of A ugus« 
