AT NOON IN THE SHADE OF AN OPEN ROOM AT LIMA.
| 1805 | 1810 | ||||||
| ___ | /\ | ___ | ___ | /\ | ___ | ||
| / | \ | / | \ | ||||
| Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. | ||||
| January | 77 | 74¾ | 76 | 73¾ | |||
| February | 79½ | 76 | 77 | 74¾ | |||
| March | 78½ | 74¾ | 77 | 74¾ | |||
| April | 74¾ | 72 | 74¾ | 71¼ | |||
| May | 73¾ | 67 | 71¼ | 67 | |||
| June | 65¾ | 65 | 66 | 64 | |||
| July | 65 | 63 | 64¾ | 61 | |||
| August | 63½ | 62¾ | 63¾ | 61 | |||
| September | 65 | 63½ | 64¾ | 64 | |||
| October | 65¾ | 63½ | 65¾ | 63½ | |||
| November | 69½ | 65¾ | 69½ | 65½ | |||
| December | 73¾ | 69½ | 71½ | 70 | |||
| —— | —— | —— | —— | ||||
| Mean height du-} | |||||||
| ring the Year.} | 79½ | 62¾ | 77 | 61 | |||
| ==== | ==== | ==== | ==== | ||||
The coolness of the climate is occasioned by the wind and a peculiar state of the atmosphere. The wind generally blows from different points of the compass between the south west and the south east. When from the former direction, it crosses in its course a great portion of the Pacific Ocean, and when it comes from the eastward it has not to pass over sandy deserts or scorching plains, but to traverse first the immense tract of woodland countries lying between the Brazils and Peru, and afterwards the frozen tops of the Cordillera, at a distance of twenty leagues from Lima; so that, in both cases, it is equally cool and refreshing. A northerly wind is very seldom felt in Lima; but when it blows, as if by accident, from that quarter, the heat is rather oppressive. On the 6th of March, 1811, the wind being from the north, I made the following observations with a Farenheit's thermometer, at one o'clock, p. m.
| In the shade in an open room | 80° |
| In the air, five yards from the sun's rays | 87° |
| In the sun | 106° |
| Water in the shade from sunrise | 74° |
| Water in a well 20 yards below the surface of the earth | 70° |
| Sea water at Callao at 4 p. m. | 64° |
| Heat of the body, perspiring | 96° |
| ———————after cooling in the shade | 94° |
The heat of the sun in summer is mitigated by a canopy of clouds, which constantly hang over Lima, and although not perceptible from the city, yet when seen from an elevated situation in the mountains, they appear somewhat like the smoke floating in the atmosphere of large towns where coal is burnt; but as this material is not used in Lima, the cause and effect must be different.
If I may be allowed to give an opinion different from that of several eminent persons who have written on the climate of Lima, it is, that the vapours which rise on the coast or from the sea are lifted to a sufficient height by the action of the sun's rays to be caught by the current of wind from the southward and westward, and carried by them into the interior; whilst the exhalations from the city and its
