Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/149

Rh temperate regions, this beautiful portion of the new world never feels the intensity of a summer's sun, or knows the stormy blasts of a wintry cold. The thermometer, during the whole year, scarcely varies. The average heat, in the middle of the day, may be considered as from 68 to 70 degrees, Fahrenheit, in the shade.

To this equality of temperature, there are, it is true, a few striking exceptions. During the period of the north winds, a current of cold air sometimes passes over the city in an evening, and produces within a few hours a difference of twenty degrees. Such changes, however, are both rare and transient.

Although the elevation of Guatimala approaches so near to that at which the clouds float over lands contiguous to the sea, this delicious spot is scarcely ever enveloped in those thick fogs which generally descend upon cities similarly situated. The environs, although now neglected, might be made to produce every variety of fruits and vegetables, all of which are capable of being brought to perfect maturity on the neighbouring hills and mountains, which are carpeted, during the whole year, with the most beautiful flowers, expanded in full perfection.

The seasons, instead of dividing to themselves four distinct portions of the year, here mingle, and know only the period of the rains, and of the