6

BOOK

IV,

Temperatureof its cli-8W9.

HISTORY OF AMERICA.

may be carried on through all the provinces fromthe river De la Plata to the gulf of Paria. Nor isthis bounty of Nature confined to the foutherndivifion of America; its northern continent aboundsno lefs in rivers which are navigable almofl totheir fources, and by its immenfe chain of lakesprovifion is made for an inland communication ,more extenfive and commodious than in anyquarter of the globe. The countries firetchingfrom the gulf of Darien on one fide, to that ofCalifornia on the other, which form the chainthat binds the two parts of the American contbnent together, are not deflitute of peculiar advan-tages. Their coaft on one fide is walked by theAtJa ntic Ocean, on the other by the Pacific. Someof their rivers flow into the former, fome into thelatter, and fecure to them all the commercial be-nefits that may refult from a communication withboth.

But what moft diftinguifhes America from otherparts of the earth , is the peculiar temperature ofits climate , and the different laws to which it isfubjedl with refpedl to the diftrihution of beat andcold. We cannot determine with precifion theportion of heat felt in any part of the globe,merely by meafuring its diftance from the equator.The climate of a country is affeded , in fome de-gree , by its elevation above the fea , by the extentof continent, by the nature of the foil, the heightof adjacent mountains, and many other circum-ffances. The influence of thefe, however, is,from various caufes , lefs confiderable in the greater

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