can dispute fairness of skin with our fairest Europeans.

Thus, it is curious to the philosopher to observe, that under the Equator there are well inhabited countries, colder than Germany; and in the temperate zone, well inhabited countries, as hot as the hottest in the neighbourhood of the Line. In Louisiana, winter and summer seem to have an uninterrupted succession: this hour it freezes, the next, heat is intolerable. But, that which is most remarkable is, that the wind, which prevails when it freezes hardest in winter, is the wind which prevails during the greatest heats in summer. These are the north, and north-west winds. These phænomena are not easily accounted for. Don Ulloa says, on the banks of the Mississippi, he experienced three positive summers, and two positive winters, within the space of fourteen days; and this too in a country where there were no neighbouring mountains, and where no tramontane blasts. could come from masses of snow. "Within

ten leagues," continues he, "one experiences the four seasons of the year; but, in an inverse order, for summer is at its height, when the sun is farthest from its zenith; and winter when

it

it is the nearest. In the interior countries, they likewise experience winter, while in the superior they experience summer.' This is different from what we find in any other country, and is not to be accounted for in the like easy manner with the extraordinary degree of cold of Quebec, compared with the cold of Paris or London, though nearly in the same degree of latitude; or with the fact, that the Brazils do not experience the same intensity of heat which is felt on the opposite shores of Africa. The north-west winds, which predominate in winter, in Canada, cannot arrive with them, until they have traversed regions eternally covered with snow. The winds which predominate with us are broken in upon, and tempered, by the milder atmosphere of the ocean. The same happens in Africa. The wind which renders the heat insupportable at Senegal, and particularly after it has crossed the burning sands of Africa, is refreshed and meliorated on its passage over the Atlantic to the Brazils.

The extent of America is immense. It is larger than either Europe, Asia, or Africa, the three noted divisions of the ancient continent, and not much inferior in dimensions to a third part of the habitable world. It stretches from

* Ulloa,

the

the northern pole circle, to a high southern latitude, above fifteen hundred miles beyond the farthest extremity of the old continent on that side of the Line. It passes through all the climates capable of becoming the habitation of man; and fit for yielding the various productions peculiar either to the temperate, or to the torrid regions of the earth. The stupendous ridge of the Andes, no less remarkable for extent than for elevation, rises in different places nearly one-third, or a mile, perpendicular, above the summit of Mont Blanc. The plain of Quito, which may be considered as its base, is elevated farther above the sea than the top of the Pyrenees.* And yet Buffon has maintained, that this part of the globe has but lately emerged from the sea, and became fit for the residence of men; that every thing in it bears marks of a recent original; and that its inhabitants, called lately into existence, are still at the beginning of their career. But, let me ask one simple question, and let it, if it can, be answered on the hypothesis of Buffon. We all know, that the animals of America are neither so large, nor so fierce as those of the old continent. They are even called, from their diminutive stature, of an inferior race. But, how came it that America should possess exuvia of creatures of such

• Robertson.

such bulk, as to be compared not only to the rhinoceros and the elephant, but to the arbitrarily denominated mammouth? Have fossil bones of greater magnitude been found in Siberia, or any where else, than on the banks of the Ohio?

LETTER

LETTER LXVIII.

REVOLUTIONS, both mental and physical, have happened in every corner of the uniEurope herself, not long ago, and after

verse.

a day of extraordinary brightness, was suddenly struck with the gloom of night, and the sciences became shrowded by the misfortunes of the times. Nothing remained more than a feeble twilight. A few of the arts, however, exiled to Constantinople, found their way back, and settled themselves in Italy. The manes of Cicero, Horace, Virgil, and all the superior geniuses of antiquity, were awakened. Inquisitive speculation penetrated into the tombs for knowledge. The arts and the wisdom of antiquity, at length, started in all the brilliancy of youth they seized upon all minds; they rivetted themselves on all hearts. Yet knowledge is to be forgotten, as knowledge is to be acquired, One generation receives a blight, though its immediate predecessors may have flourished in fruitfulness and vigour.

2

The