tET. IX. OF THE LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE. 143

From these considerations, you will be able toobtain a precise and determinate idea of th^poles. Imagine now a circle to be drawn roundthe globe, exactly in the middle between thesetwo points, and this will be the equator; which,properly speaking, is a great circle of the earth,that separates the northern from the southernhemisphere, and is every where at an equaldistance from the two poles. This circle is alsono less remarkable, on account of its situation,than the poles; the heat here being almost asintense as the cold is there j for which reason,the ancients imagined the countries in bothsituations to be equally uninhabitable. Sincethe globe, however, has been farther explored,it has been found that many places, which liedirectly under the equator, are extremely popu-lous, notwithstanding the excessive heat of theclimate; and even the bleak regions of the poleare not wholly desolate; so that the followingdescription of those parts must be considered asmore poetical than just. .

The fields of liquid air, inclosing all,

Surround the compass of this earthly ball:

And as five zones th’ etherial regions bind,

Five, correspondent, are to earth affign’d :

The sun, with rays directly darting down,

Fires all beneath, and files the middle zone:

Ttie two beneath the distant poles complainOf endless winter, and perpetual rain :

Betwixt th’ extreme?, two happier climates holdThe temper that partakes of hot and cold.

Ovid.