400 
CHANGES OE TEXIl’EhATUEE. 
caloric. "What can we conceive to be more delightful than 
a temperature which in the day keeps between 20° and 20°;’* 
and at night between 16° and' 18°, t which is equally favour- 
able to the plantain, the orange-tree, the coffee-tree, the 
apple, the apricot, and corn ? Jose de Oviedo y Banos, the 
historiographer of Venezuela, calls the situation of Caracas 
that of a terrestrial paradise, and compares the Anauco and 
the neighbouring torrents to the four rivers of the Garden 
of Eden. 
It is to be regretted that this delightful climate is gene- 
rally inconstant and variable. The inhabitants of Caracas 
complain of having several seasons in one and the same day ; 
and of the rapid change from one season to another. In the 
month of January, for instance, a night, of which the mean 
temperature is 16°, is sometimes followed by a day when the 
thermometer during eight successive hours keeps above 22° 
in the shade. In the same day, we may find the temperature 
of 24° and 18°. These variations are extremely common in 
our temperate climates of Europe, but in the torrid zone, 
Europeans themselves are so accustomed to the uniform 
action of exterior stimulus, that they suffer from a change of 
temperature of 6°. At Cumana, and everywhere in the plains, 
the temperature from eleven in the morning to eleven at 
night changes only 2° or 3°. Moreover, these variations act 
on the human frame at Caracas more violently than might 
be supposed from the mere indications of the thermometer. 
In this narrow valley the atmosphere is in some sort ba- 
lanced between two winds, one blowing from the west, or 
the seaside, the other from the east, or the inland country. 
The first is known by the name of the wind of Catia, 
because it blows from Catia westward of Cabo Blanco 
through the ravine of Tipe. It is, however, only a westerly 
wind in appearance, and it is oftener the breeze of the east 
and north-east, which, rushing with extreme impetuosity, 
engulfs itself in the Quebrada de Tipe. Eebounding from, 
the high mountains of Aguas Negros, tins wind finds its 
way back to Caracas, in the direction of the hospital of the 
Capuchins and the Bio Caraguata. It is loaded with 
vapours, which it deposits as its temperature decreases, 
and consequently the summit of the Silla is enveloped in 
* Between 16° and 20 ‘8° Reaum. 
f Between 1 2*8* and 14*4 C Reaum. 
