Page:History of Columbus (2).pdf/23

23 islands of America, in the torrid zone, are either small or mountainous, and are fanned alternately by refreshing sea and land breezes. The causes of the extraordinary cold towards the southern limits of America, and in the seas beyond it, cannot be ascertained in a manner equally satisfying. The most obvious and probable cause of this superior degree of cold towards the southern extremity of America, seems to be the form of the continent there. Its breadth gradually decreases as it stretches from St Antonio southwards, and from the Bay of St Julian to the Straits of Magellan, its dimensions are much contracted. From its southern point, it is probable that an open sea stretches to the antarctic pole. In whichever of these directions the wind blows, it is cooled before it approaches the Magellanic regions, by passing over a vast body of water; nor is the land there of such extent, that it can recover any considerable degree of heat in its progress over it. These circumstances concur in rendering the temperature of the air in this district of America, more similar to that of an insular than to that of a continental climate; and hinder it from acquiring the same degree of summer heat, with places in Europe and Asia, in a corresponding northern latitude. The north wind is the only one that reaches this part of America, after blowing over a great continent. But, from an attentive survey of its position, this will be found to have a tendency rather to diminish than augment the degree of heat. The southern extremity of America is properly the termination of the immense ridge of the Andes, which stretches nearly in a direct line from north to south,