VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS. 763

exceed forty, all of them inconfiderable indeed, but which, nevertlielefs, collectivelydifcharge a very great portion of water. This plenteoufnefs of rivers and rivuletspowerfully contributes to a fertility of foil, a ftrength of vegetation, of which in ourclimates, lefs favoured by nature, we fcarcely can form an idea.

However abundant the rains in the Ifle of France , {fill is it an opinion generallyreceived in the country that they have much decreafed within the laft five-and-twentyor thirty years; and every body attributes it to the extenfive clearing of the land byfelling the woods, a procefs which, of late years efpecially, has been purfued with toomuch indifcretion. This opinion is general with all the planters, as well thofe of oldftanding as new fettlers. All of them jfSrm that the rivers bring with them vifiblya much fmaller volume of water than formerly ; that many fprings are dried up,and that vegetation ceafes to be equally a&ive; this laft effedt they attribute, alfo, lefsto the exhauftion of the foil, than the abfence of the accuftomed moifture. Afluredlyit is far from impofiible that the indifcreet felling of the forelts may have much tendedto diminilh the quantity of rain ; but it is alfo very poffible that the prefent quantity,continuing the fame, may be more than fufficient for the demands of vegetation; forthe firft confequence of rendering bare the foil, is a more prompt and efpecially amore confiderable evaporation; but whatever may be the value of this laft remark,it is not lefs inconteftible that the felling of trees has in alrnoft every quarter of theilland been profecuted with a blameable excefs. Already, even, v 7 ood is fcarce in thevicinage of the north-w r eft port; and M. Cere aflures me that, in his youth, the wholeplain of the Painplemoulfes was covered with forefts. They have been replaced byplantations and dwellings*.

Temperatnre.~\ The temperature of the Me of France is not by much fo great asmight be prefumed from its latitude. In fact, from a feries of daily obfervations,made with great nicety for three fucceffive years at the plantation of Minifly, be-longing to one of the brothers Monneron, (a name not held in lefs efteem in India than in Europe, ) I find that the maximum of heat in the year 7 was fcarcely 22 0 ; inthe year 8, 21,8°; and in the year 9, 22° : the minimum in each of thefe years wasfrom 13 0 to 14 0 . Moft commonly the heat is in fummer from 18 0 to 20° ; in winter,from 15 0 to t8°. Hence, in all this part of the illand, it is the cuftom to have firesin winter f ; the nights in particular are very cool, and 1 myfelf have fenfibly expe-rienced the neceffity of being well covered at that feafon.

In the plain of the Pamplemouflfes, the temperature is not greater than in thofe ofWilhems and Moka. M. Cere, who diligently remarked the thermometer through afpace of thirty years, aflured me that that inftrument very rarely rifes higher than 25 0 ;that fuch a phenomenon fcarcely happens once in five years; that ftill more feldomit attains 26°'{; and that, in this laft cafe, the circumftance is almoft conftantly fol-lowed by violent tempefts or hurricanes. Expofed on many occafions from noon tillone o’clock to the action of the fun, his thermometer never rofe higher than 40° §.

* The great Frederic ordered a foreft to be cleared : “ Sire,” faid a courtier, “ if Your Majefty con.tinues after this manner, you will render wood fcarce.”—“ But the woods will be replaced by fields,which employ more hands,” was the Monarch’s reply, “ and feed more mouths; and I would ratherhave men for fubje.dts than trees.” Tr.

t 14 0 of Reaumur is equal to 57 j° of Fahrenheit; 150 of R. to 59 0 of F.; 18° of R. to.64!-® of F.;2 o°-of R. to 68° of F.; and 22° of R. to 71 \° of F. I prefume from the afiimilation of thefe data toothers given in the Mem. de l’Acad. Franpoife, that the thermometer of Reaumur is that alluded to byM.Peron. Tr.

t 78 j° of Fahrenheit. § 104° of Fahrenheit.

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