and in their descent combine with those that fill the lower regions, and hence some large drops are formed.
The following table of the weather will perhaps furnish a better idea of the climate of Lima than any verbal description:—
| 1805 | 1810 | |||||||
| _______________/\________________ | _________/\_________ | |||||||
| / | \ | / | \ | |||||
| Sun. | Cloudy. | Variable. | Sun. | Cloudy. | Variable. | |||
| Jan. | 5 days | 10 days | 16 days | 6 days | 11 days | 13 days. | ||
| Feb. | 8 | 5 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 17 | ||
| March | 12 | 2 | 17 | 13 | 2 | 16 | ||
| April | 7 | 9 | 14 | 6 | 10 | 14 | ||
| May | .. | 17 | 14 | 1 | 15 | 15 | ||
| June | .. | 21 | 9 | .. | 24 | 6 | ||
| July | .. | 28 | 3 | .. | 31 | .. | ||
| August | .. | 27 | 4 | .. | 30 | 1 | ||
| Sept. | 3 | 20 | 7 | 2 | 21 | 7 | ||
| October | 2 | 21 | 8 | 2 | 19 | 10 | ||
| Nov. | 4 | 16 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 10 | ||
| Dec. | 4 | 18 | 19 | 4 | 7 | 20 | ||
| — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| During the year | 45 | 184 | 136 | 46 | 189 | 129 | ||
| == | === | === | == | === | === | |||
Sun indicates those days in which the sun was never clouded; Cloudy, those in which the sun was not visible; and Variable, those in which the sun was generally clouded in the morning but afterwards became visible.
From the foregoing explanations it must naturally be inferred, that the dry season in the interior occurs at the time that the mists or fogs predominate on the coast, and vice versa: this is what really takes place. The rivers on the coast are nearly dry during the misty weather, but during the summer heat they often become impassable, owing to their increase of water from the melting of the snow on the mountains and the fall of rain in the interior. The chimbadores, or badeadores, men who ford the larger rivers with goods and travellers, know from experience and minute observation, according to the hour at which the increase begins, at what place the rain has fallen.
It may be well here to advert to a phenomenon which has as yet remained unnoticed. The heavy rains which fall on the Cordillera of the Andes are the effect of evaporation from the Pacific Ocean, and these rains feed the enormous streams which supply those rivers that empty themselves into the Atlantic. It therefore follows, that the Atlantic is furnished with water from the Pacific; and if, as some have believed, the Atlantida existed between the coasts of Africa and America, its western shores being opposite to the mouth of the river Amazon, its inundation may have been occasioned by the heavy rains in the Andes.
The vegetable mould in the valley of Lima is about two feet deep, and is extremely rich, amply repaying the labour of cultivation. Below the mould is a stratum of sand and pebbles, extending about three leagues from the sea-coast; and under this a stratum of indurated clay, apparently of alluvial depositions. The latter seems to have been once the bottom of the sea, and may have been raised above the level of the surface by some great convulsion; for I cannot suppose with Moreno, Unanue and others, that the water has retired from this coast so much as to occasion a fall of more than four hundred feet in perpendicular height, which the stratum of sand and pebbles holds above the level of the sea at its extreme distance from the coast.
May not the same principles account for the general belief, that the surface of the Atlantic on the eastern shores of the New World is above the level of the Pacific on the western shores, notwithstanding the apparent contradiction of the currents running round Cape Horn into the Atlantic? Perhaps the asserted elevation, particularly in the Gulph of Mexico, is owing to the prevailing winds that drive the surface water into the gulf, its free egress by a sub-current being impeded by the range of the Antilles, whose bases may occupy a greater space than their surfaces, and also to the existence of rocks under water.
Although Lima is free from the terrifying effects of thunder and lightning, it is subject to dreadful convulsions which are far more frightful and destructive. Earthquakes are felt every year, particularly after the mists disperse and the summer