the duration of autumn is as long as in countries under the same latitude in Europe, and is, over the whole continent of North America, the most agreeable season of the year.

The climate of America is colder in winter, and hotter in summer, than under the same parallels of latitude in Europe, and the daily variations of temperature, which depend on the winds, are also greater; but the transitions from dry to wet weather are by no means so sudden as in England; and we may always tell in the morning whether it will be fair all day or not, except in the case of thunder showers, which come on frequently during hot weather, in the evening, when not the smallest appearance of a cloud can be seen before mid-day.

The trade winds, which drive the vapours of the Atlantic into that vortex of suction, the Gulf of Mexico, spread afterwards into currents, and blow in different directions, as diverted by the inequality of the islands and continent of America. These winds are warm; those blowing from the northern regions cold and piercing. Rain falls in America in heavier storms, and in greater quantities than in Europe, but not so frequently.

The summer season may be said to commence about the middle of April, or as soon as the ice disappears in the bays and rivers; further south somewhat earlier, north of 47 deg. later. In May, the weather is generally dry and pleasant; but it rarely happens that summer becomes firmly established, without a few cold days occurring after the first warm weather. This change is occasioned by the wind shifting from south to north, or to north-east, which brings down along the sea-coast large fields of ice, and which carries along also the cold evaporations that arise in the Hyperborean regions. This interruption seldom lasts for more than three or four days, during which the weather is either dry and raw, or cold and wet.

When the wind shifts to the southward, the temperature soon changes, as the cold vapours are either driven back, or dissipated by the heat of the sun, which now becomes powerful.

In latitudes south of 50 deg. north, the southerly winds at this period combat and overcome, as it were, those of the north, and, restoring warmth to the air, fine weather becomes permanent. All the birds, common in summer, make their appearance early in May, and enliven the woods with their melody, while the frogs, those American nightingales, or, as they are often called, bog choristers, also strain their evening concerts. Vegetation proceeds with surprising quickness; wheat and oats are sown; the meadows, pastures, and deciduous trees assume their verdure; various indigenous and exotic flowers blow; and the face of nature and the temperature are delightful.

In June, July, and August, the weather is excessively hot, even as far north as Quebec, sometimes as hot as in the West Indies: the mercury being 90 deg. to 100 deg. Fahrenheit. Showers from the south-west, sometimes accompanied with

thunder and lightning, occur during these months about once a week, or every ten days, which generally shift the wind to the north-west, and produce for a short time an agreeable coolness.

The nights at this season exceed in splendour the most beautiful ones in Europe. To portray them in their true colours, would require more than any language can accomplish, or any pencil, but that of imagination, can execute. The air, notwithstanding the heat of the preceding day, is always pure; the sea and lakes generally unruffled, and its surface one vast mirror, reflecting with precision every visible object, either in the heavens or on the earth. The moon shines with a soft, silver-like brilliancy, and during her retirement, the stars are seen in their utmost effulgence. Fishes of various species sport in the water; the singular note of the whip-poor-will is heard from the woods; the fire-fly floats on the air, oscillating its vivid sparks; and, where the hand of man has subdued the forest, and laid the ground under the control of husbandry, may be heard the voice of the milk-maid, or the "drowsy tinkling of the distant fold." In another direction may often be seen the light of the birch torch, which the Indian uses in the prow of his canoe, while engaged with his spear in fishing.

In September, the weather is extremely pleasant; the days are very warm until the middle of the month; but the evenings are agreeably cool, followed by dews at night; and about, but generally after, the autumnal equinox, the severity of the season is interrupted by high winds and rain. At this period the wind generally blows from a south-easterly point, and the weather usually clears up with the wind from the opposite direction.

The season from this time to the middle or latter part of October, is generally a continuation of pleasant days, moderately warm at noon, and the mornings and evenings cool, attended sometimes with slight frosts at night. Rain occurs but seldom, and the temperature is, perhaps, more agreeable at this time than at any other, being neither unpleasantly hot nor cold. About the end of this month, the northerly winds begin to acquire some ascendancy over the power of the south, and there appears in the atmosphere a determination to establish cold weather, and to accomplish a general change of temperature.

Rain, sunshine, evaporations, and slight frosts, succeed each other, and the leaves of the forest from this period change their verdure into the most brilliant and rich colours, exhibiting the finest tints and shades of red, yellow, and sap green, blended with violet, purple, and brown. The peculiar charm and splendour which this change imparts to American scenery, produce one of the richest landscapes in nature; and never could the pencil of an artist be engaged on a more interesting subject.

After this crisis, the air becomes colder, but the sky continues clear, and a number of fine days usually appear in November. There are frosts at night, but

the sun is warm in the middle of the day; the evenings and mornings are pleasant but cool, and a fire becomes agreeable.

This period is termed all over America, the "Indian summer," and is always looked for, and depended on, as the time to make preparations for the winter season. The French Canadians and Acadians, say the atmospheric warmth at this time is caused by the heat of the great blaze of the prairies set on fire by the Indians, west of the lakes, to destroy the grass. However absurd this belief is, it has acquired a firm credence among an ignorant people.

About the end of November, or a little after, the frosts become more severe, and the northerly winds more prevalent; the sky, however, continues clear, and the weather dry, with the exception of a rainy day once in a week, or in every ten days. This month, and often the whole of December pass away before severe frosts or snows become permanent, which, the old inhabitants say, never takes place until the different ponds or small lakes are filled with water by the alternate frosts, thaws, and rains that occur, or until a little after the wild. geese depart for the south.

Towards the end of December, or the beginning of January, the winter season becomes firmly established; the bays and rivers* are frozen over, and the ground covered to the depth of a foot or more with snow; the frost is extremely keen during the months of January, February, and the earlier part of March-the mercury being frequently several degrees below zero. A thaw and mild weather generally occur for a day or two about the middle of January, and sometimes in February. Thaws take place whenever the wind shifts for any time to the south, and the weather that immediately succeeds, is always extremely cold. The ice then becomes as smooth as glass, and affords a source of delightful amusement to those who are lovers of skating.

The deepest snows fall towards the latter part of February, or the beginning of March; at which time, boisterous storms sweep the snow furiously along the surface of the earth, leaving some places nearly bare, and raising immense banks in others. While these last, it may be imprudent to travel, at least, on the ice, or over tracts where there is no wood, as it is impossible to see any distance through the drift. The duration of these storms, however, is seldom longer than one or two days; and then the frost is by no means so severe as when the sky is clear. The effects of the cold in winter is sometimes fatal. In clear frosty weather there is little danger; but the traveller often experiences, particularly during a snowstorm, or even in clear weather, a drowsiness, and an indifference to consequences, an inclination to sleep, and at the same time, little sensibility to cold. Yielding to this influence, to which the whole frame becomes as agreeably disposed, as if

* Halifax, Passamaquody, and several others on the Atlantic coast, between Louisburg and New York, are very seldom rendered unnavigable by ice. All those within the gulf and river St. Lawrence and the lakes, are closed by being frozen from three to, sometimes, five months.

the person were falling asleep on a feather-bed, is inevitably fatal to life, which appears to be abstracted, with the principle of caloric, from the body, by the surrounding cold, and without the least pain. The fluids of the body gradually congealing, until the whole becomes a frozen mass. Exertion alone, until the traveller reaches a house, can save him. Few people at present, perish in America during winter, the roads being more frequently travelled; and the inhabitants guarding more effectually against the cold than formerly.

The fine sand-like dust, which consists of snow, in the most minute, but intensely frozen particles, and which searches, when whirled along by the impetuosity of the wind, through the smallest chinks of window frames, or the least opening in a house, often leaves large heaps of snow on the floor, in the course of a few hours. The Canadians and Acadians call this kind of drift, La Poudre.

When any part of the body is frost bitten, the most effectual remedy-and that which removes the effect of being frozen, which is much the same as being burnt-is rubbing the part affected, before approaching a fire or warm room, with snow.

A phenomenon appears frequently during winter, known by the appellation of silver frost. When a fine misty rain takes place, with the wind east or north-east, (the frost not being sufficiently keen to congeal the rain, until it falls) the moment it rests on any substance it adheres and freezes, incrusting every tree, shrub, or whatever else is exposed to the weather, with ice. The forest assumes, in consequence, the most magnificent splendour, and it continues in this state until it thaws, or until the icy shell is shaken off by the winds. The woods thus robed, especially if the sun shines, exhibit the most brilliant appearance-every tree is loaded, as if with a natural production of gems or silver spangles; and there is not, probably, any thing in the appearance of nature that would more effectually baffle the powers of a landscape painter.

The vernal equinox commonly brings on strong gales from the south, accompanied by a mighty thaw, which dissolves all the snow on the cleared lands, and weakens the ice so much, that it now opens where there are strong currents. Clear weather, with sharp frosts at night and sunshine during the day, generally succeeds and continues to the end of March, or the first week in April, when a snow storm frequently comes on, and severe and disagreeable weather lasts for two or three days. This is the final effort of expiring winter, and is immediately followed by a warmth of temperature, which breaks up the ice and dissolves the snows. The heat of the sun, which now becomes powerful, dries up the ground in a few days; after which ploughing begins, and the summer season commences. Although this outline of the general system of the climate is as near the truth as can probably be stated, yet the weather is often different at the same period in one year from that of another. This difference arises chiefly from the winter season, setting in earlier or later; and the same may be observed as regards the commence

ment of summer. Thus the winter has been known to set in with unusual severity, on the beginning of December, and sometimes not until the middle of January. In some winters thaws occur oftener than in others; and deeper snows are known in one season than for some years before. The ice breaks up one year as early as the 1st of April, at Montreal, and the harbours within the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and it has been known strong enough on the 1st of May, opposite Charlotte Town, Prince Edward Island, to bear a man across an arm of the sea, the Hilsborough. It is also generally observed, that mild winters are always succeeded by cold springs. Halifax harbour has seldom been frozen over; the bay and harbours of Passamaquody are always open to shipping, while those south, including New York, are often obstructed by ice.

It cannot, however, with all these variations of climate, be said, with propriety, that the duration of winter is more than four months. Many prefer the winter to the same season in Europe, north of Paris; and, taking the year throughout, give the preference to the climate.* Though the cold is intense for nine or ten weeks, the air is dry and elastic, and free from the chilling moisture of a British winter, or the dry bitterness of the north-east winds of France. On the Atlantic coast, where the frost is less intense, there is more humidity.

It is maintained by some writers that the air and earth undergo a considerable alteration in temperature when the land is cleared of the wood; first, from the ground being exposed to the sun's rays, which cause the waters to evaporate more copiously; second, by lessening the quantity and duration of snow; and third, by introducing warm winds through the openings made. From the observations of old people, who have lived fifty or sixty years in America, as well as from the writings of those who visited the new continent many years ago, it would appear that the climate has become milder, and that the duration of winter is now shorter.+ Whether this may be attributed to clearing the land of the wood, or to some unknown process going forward in the system of nature, may always remain doubtful.‡ Opening and drying the lands must at least produce a favourable local influence.

*We have spent several years in America,—and we have seen as deep snows between the Rhone and the Loire, as we have ever seen in America; and we have found the cold winds in December between Marseilles and Avignon more piercing, and we suffered more from severe cold in travelling in France and parts of Italy, than in the countries we describe in America.

It must be remembered, however, that the natural dreariness of a wilderness country, especially during winter, and the slight houses of the settlers, must have had some weight in their accounts of the climate.

That enterprising traveller, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, considered that clearing the land of wood occasioned no very sensible diminution of cold. The Baron la Hontan, it is also recorded, left Quebec, in 1690, on the 20th of November. If that be true, it is as late as a vessel can or will leave that port at the present time. Potrincourt and Champlain, on a Sunday early in January, 1607, sailed in a boat six miles up Port Royal (Annapolis, Nova Scotia) to visit a corn-fieldwinter wheat-dined in the sunshine, enjoyed music in the open air, &c. No winter since has been milder.

Dr. Forry denies that the climate, either of Europe or America, has undergone any great degree of amelioration. He admits that clearing the lands of trees and cultivating and drying the soil, settlements, population, &c., have a subordinate influence in ameliorating the temperature. Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia, observes :—“ A change in our climate, however, is