Travelling is here extremely fatiguing and dangerous, especially if the summer prove dry, scarcely a drop of water being to be seen for thirty leagues together; and when any is found, it is so brackish, as to be equally unwholesome and unpalatable. Nor do the cattle feed better; the barren earth not yielding so much as a blade of grass, or any thing for their sustenance, which obliges the passengers to carry not only provisions for themselves, but for their beasts of burden. Besides, the country being flat and sandy, without mountains, rivers, woods, lakes, or any other object to direct their course, it would be impossible to avoid losing their way, were it not for the flight of certain birds, who are observed to go and return at stated periods. Travellers are also guided by the course of the sun by day, and of the stars by night; and the latter is generally the time of travelling here, as well as in the deserts of Arabia. All the parts of these immense deserts are not equally inhospitable, some being inhabited by different tribes of Arabs; but the province or desert of Zuenzina is peculiarly dry and bar. ren, and it has been asserted, that of large caravans which pass through this country, seldom one-half of the aggregate which set out, either of men or beast, ever return, numbers of them dying by thirst, hunger, fatigue, or perishing under the whirlwinds of sand which frequently overwhelm them. Through the no less dreary and dangerous desert of Lemta, caravans pass from Constantia, and other towns of Algiers and Tunis, to Nigritia, or Negroland, though equally in danger of perishing by thirst, hunger, and the sword. The most extraordinary journies are those of the akkabaahs, or accumulated caravans, from Morocco to Tomboctoo, consisting often of not less than seven hundred camels. Here the heat is intense, the sand drives in surges, and the shumah or burning wind carries death with every blast.

WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA. The countries on this coast to which Europeans chiefly resort for the purposes of commerce, and at which they procure ivory, gold dust, Guinea-pepper, and slaves, are extremely hot and unhealthy. They lie southward of the great river Senegal, in latitude 16° N. and extend quite to the line; the most considerable of which is Gninea. Here the periodical rains overflow the level part of the country, which add greatly to its unwholesomeness. It has frequently happened that European ships have lost one-half of their crews by fevers, whilst lying in this situation; but by providing better medical assistance on board

the ships, and applying the most effectual remedies, the devastations of this sultry and pestiferous climate have been greatly lessened. Tremendous storms of thunder and lightning occur often on the coast, and it is not uncommon for European seamen, when exposed to the full force of the lightning, to be struck with instant blindness by a flash.

The island of ST. THOME, or ST. THOMAS, is somewhat of a round figure, and about one hundred and twenty miles in circum. ference; it is situated directly under the equator, and is between forty and fifty leagues to the westward of the continent of Africa. The heat and moisture of the air here render the island extremely unhealthy to Europeans, yet the negroes and mulattos who inhabit it are said to possess a good share of health, and frequently live to an advanced age.

Those countries which lie on the north of the line are much more intensely hot, and, on account of the periodical rains which fall, much more unhealthy, than the countries on the south of it in the same degree of latitude; such as Loango, Congo, and Angola, which are somewhat defended by eminences.

The small island of TINIAN, situated in 15° 8' N. latitude, and 146° 0′ W. longitude, is one of that cluster of islands called by Magellan, who discovered them, the Ladrones, and since the Marian Islands: its extent from east to west is about twelve miles, but from north to south it is little more than six. This small spot has been celebrated for its extraordinary beauty and fertility, and the very seasonable and effectual relief which it afforded to Commodore Anson's people, on board the Centurion, when on the point of perishing. Although at present uninhabited, the remains of pyramidical pillars, and other ruins, fully evince that it was once very populous. The Spaniards had a settlement upon it for a con siderable time, which had not been long removed when the Centurion touched here.

Although the account which is given by the very able writer of Lord Anson's voyage, represents this spot as possessing all the charms of an earthly paradise, yet the island does not seem to have been equally propitious to Commodore Byron and his crew, who touched at it July 31, 1765; for although such as were languishing with the scurvy were soon recovered when removed on shore, yet many were seized with fevers, of which two died; the rains were

very violent, and almost perpetual; whilst, to increase their dis tress, the heat was so intense that the thermometer on board the ship generally stood at 86°, which is only twelve degrees below the heat of the blood in the human body. The sun was then almost vertical. The fishes which were caught on the coast were poisonous, and much disordered all who ate of them. The excessive heat caused whatever provision they killed to turn green, and to swarm with maggots in less than an hour after, and if a method had not been devised of snaring the wild hogs, and so procuring them alive, their subsistence would have been very scantily dealt out, but by this contrivance they were well stocked with fresh provisions : some of these wild hogs weighed two hundred pounds, and many were sent on board to furnish provisions in the prosecution of the voyage. Byron asserted, that he never felt such heat either on the coast of Guinea, in the West Indies, or upon the island of St. Thomas. So great a difference does a month seem to make in the condition of this island; for the Centurion arrived at the end of August, 1743, and in September, 1767, Captain Wallis, in the Dolphin, put in here for refreshments, and continued near a month, during which time he found every necessary accommodation, and apparently without the inconveniences of heat and rain. But although the difference of season might materially affect the state of the weather, yet it cannot be supposed to occasion so very material an alteration; there is, therefore, another cause to be as. signed, and which may be considered as sufficient to acquit either narrator of exaggeration in his description. For if it be consi dered that the Spaniards had for many years cultivated this spot when the Centurion arrived there, and that it had been totally neglected from that time to the arrival of Byron in the Dolphin, the state of the atmosphere must necessarily have been very much changed by the wild luxuriance of nature in the course of so many

years.

BATAVIA, the emporium of the Dutch in the East Indies, is one of the hottest and most unhealthy spots on the globe. The island of Java, on which this city is situated, lies in latitude from 5° 50′ to 8° S. The unhealthiness of the place is increased by the number of canals which have been cut for the purpose of receiving merchandise, the sides of which are planted with trees, that, whilst the stagnant wa.

ters serve to raise the noxious vapours, prevent the dispersion of the vapours by obstructing the free circulation of air.

In dry weather a most horrible stench arises from these canals, and when the rains have so swelled them that they overflow their banks, the ground.floors of the houses in the lower part of the town are filled with stinking water, which leaves behind it dirt and slime in prodigious quantities. The inhabitants sometimes clean their canals, but this business is performed in such a manner as scarcely to make them less a nuisance than before, for the black mud being raked from the bottom, is left on the sides, till hard enough to be taken away in boats; and as there are no houses appropriated for necessary retirement in the whole town, the filth is thrown into the canals regularly once a day, which renders this mud a still further compound of every thing offensive and putre. factive. Farther to contaminate the air, the fence of every field and garden is a ditch, and interspersed among the cultivated grounds are many filthy fens, bogs, and morasses, as well fresh as salt. At the distance of about forty miles inland, there are hills of a considerable height, "where, as we were informed," says Captain Cook, "the air is healthy, and comparatively cool." The same situation and circumstances which render Batavia and the country round it unwholesome, render it the best garden ground in the world; the soil is fruitful beyond imagination, and the conveniences and luxuries of life which it produces are almost without number. The insalubrity of this climate is in part attributed to the bad quality of the water, therefore those who can afford it drink nothing but Seltzer water, which till of late they had from Holland at a vast expense.

The city of Batavia, till it lately yielded to British prowess, was generally supposed to be impregnable: for the roads by which heavy artillery must be brought against the town might, it was conceived, be easily destroyed, and, says Captain Cook, "if an enemy be only stopped a short time in his approach, he is effec. tually baffled, for the climate will destroy him without the use of any implements of war. We were informed," continues he, "that it was a very uncommon thing for fifty soldiers to be alive at the expiration of the first year, out of an hundred brought from Europe, and if one half survived, not ten of those were likely to be found in health.”

The maliguity of the air in that part of Asia is not confined to the island of Java, but pervades the whole Archipelago south of the equator, of which it is a part. When the ships were returning home on the third voyage undertaken by Captain Cook, they no sooner entered the straits of Banca than the men began to experience the powerful effects of that pestilential climate. Two of the people on board the Discovery fell dangerously ill of malignant putrid fevers, which, however, were prevented from spreading by putting the patients apart from the rest, in the most airy births: many were attacked with teazing coughs, others complained of violent pains in the head, and even the most healthy felt a sensa. tion of suffocating heat, together with an insuperable languor, and total loss of appetite.

[Horneman. Jackson. Cook.

CHAP. XXXVII.

DEGREES AND EFFECTS OF SEVERE COLD IN HIGH LATITUDES, OR WHERE IT HAS BEEN MINUTELY ATTENDED TO.

SECTION I.

Cold of the South Polar Regions.

WE have observed in a preceding chapter, that high southern

latitudes are visited with a severer degree of cold than equal latitudes towards the north pole, and have pointed out the probable cause. Yet, whatever the cause may be, the difference is very great; thus Glasgow, in Scotland, is situated just about the same northern latitude as Cape Horn is in the southern, whilst the win. ters in the first are attended with a less degree of cold than many summer days in the latter. The island of Terra del Fuego, although never visited by European navigators but in the summer months, is described as among the most dreary and desolate spots of the habitable earth, and the few inhabitants upon it as the most