“ In all that portion of the globe, the wind blows in an invariable direction from E. to W. As this wind holds its course along the ancient continent, it arrives at the countries which stretch along the western shore of Africa, inflamed with all the fiery partieles which it hath colleeted from the sultry plains of Asia, and the burning sands in the African deserts. The coast of Africa is aceordingly the region of the earth which feels the most fervent heat, and is exposed to the unmitigated ardour of the torrid zone. ”

“ In his narrative, he had insinuated that the glory of having first discovered the continent in the New World belonged to him. This was in part believed, and the country began to be called after tho name of its supposed first discoverer. The unaccountable caprice of mankind has perpetuated the error; so that now, by the universal consent of all nations, this new quarter of the world is called AMERICA. Thus, the name of Americus has supplanted that of Columbus; and mankind are left to regret an act of injustice, which, having been sanctioned by time, they can never redress. ”

“ The north wind, then, though it blows over land, does not bring, to the southern extremity of America, an increase of heat, collected in its passage over torrid regions; but, before it arrives there, it must have swept along the summit of the Andes, and come impregnated with the cold of that frozen region.” Another peculiarity in the climate of America, is its excessive moisture. In some places, indeed, on the western coast, rain is not known; but, in all other parts, the moistness of the climate is as remarkable as the cold. ”

“ The sailors aboard the Nigna took up the branch of a tree with red berries perfectly fresh. The clouds around the setting sun assumed a new appearance; the air was more mild and warm ; and, during night, the wind became unequal and variable. From all these symptoms, Columbus was so confident of being near land, that, on the evening of the 11th of October, after public prayers for success, he ordered the sails to be furled, and the ships to lie by, keeping strict watch, lest they should be driven ashore in the night. During this interval of suspense and expectation, no man shut his eyes ”

“ The most prevalent cause is the vast quantity of water in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with which America is environed on all sides. Hence, those places where the continent is narrowest are deluged with almost perpetual rains, accompanied with violent thunder and lightning, by which some of them, particularly Porto Bello, are rendered in a manner uninhabitable. This extreme moisture of the American climate is productive of much larger rivers there than in any other part of the world. ”

“ Though the utmost extent of America towards the north be not yet discovered, we know that it advances nearer to the pole than either Europe or Asia. The latter have large seas to the north, which are open during part of the year; and, even when covered with ice, the wind that blows over them is less intensely cold than that which blows over land in the same latitudes. ”

“ They injudiciously submitted it to the examination of unskilful judges, who, ignorant of the principles on which Columbus founded his theory, rejected it as absurd, upon the credit of a maxim under which the ignorant and indolent, in every age, shelter themselves, “That it is presumptuous in any person to suppose that he alone possesses knowledge superior to all the rest of mankind united.” They maintained, likewise, that if there were really any such countries as Columbus pretended, they would not have remained so long concealed ”

“ On the 24th of October, Columbus set out in quest of gold, which he thought was the only object of commeree worth his attention. After discovering Conception, Exuma, and Isla Larga, Cuba broke on him like an elysium. He next took Hayti, or Santo Domingo, for the ancient Ophir, the souree of the riehes of Solomon, but he gave it the name of Hispaniola, from its resembling the fairest traets of Spain. ”

“ To this powerful cause we may ascribe the extraordinary dominion of cold, and its violent inroads into the southern provinces in that part of the globe. Other causes, no less remarkable, diminish the active power of heat in those parts of the American continent which lie between the tropics. ”

“ America is universally allowed to be the largest quarter or grand division of the globe, and is supposed to be surrounded on all sides by the ocean, stretching in an extensive range through every inhabited latitude in the world. ”

“ This extensive continent lies between the Pacific Ocean on the W., and the Atlantic on the E. It is said to contain upwards of 14,000,000 square miles.
As America lies in both hemispheres, it possesses all the varieties of soil, climate, and productions, which the earth affords. It stretches through all the five zones, and has two summers as well as two winters in the year. The most remarkable difference between the New and Old World, is the general predominance of cold throughout the whole extent of America, for which various causes have been assigned. ”

“ But, in America, the land stretches from the river St Lawrence towards the pole, and spreads out immensely to the west. A chain of enormous mountains, covered with snow and ice, runs through all this dreary region The wind, passing over such an extent of high and frozen land, becomes so impregnated with cold, that it acquires a piercing keenness, which it retains in its progress through warmer climates ”

“ The Danube, the Nile, the Indus, or the Ganges, are not comparable to the Mississippi, the river St Lawrence, or that of the Amazons; nor are such lakes to bo found any where as those which North America affords. To the same cause we ascribe the excessive luxuriance of all kinds of vegetables in almost all parts of this country. ”

“ Nova Scotia and New England are on a parallel with the Bay of Biscay; and New York and Pennsylvania are opposite to Spain and Portugal.
This vast continent is washed by the two great oceans; being bounded on the E. by the Atlantic, which divides it from Europe and Africa; and on the W. by the Pacific, or Great South Sea, which separates it from Asia. It extends from Cape Horn, its most southern extremity, in latitude 56° S. to the North Pole ”

“ The voyage of one Antonio Sanchez from the Canaries to Hayti in 1484, mentioned by the Inca Garcilaso and some other Spanish writers, is regarded as a fable. The accounts, however, of Spaniards and Portuguese who had sailed westward so far as to perceive indications of land, were useful to Columbus, according to his own avowal. Ferdinand and Isabella, in a written declaration of the 4th of August 1494, ascribe the new discoveries to Columbus. ”

“ The fierce resistance of the natives and the crazy state of his ships forced him, at the close of April 1503, to make the best of his way for Hispaniola, with only two crowded wrecks, which, being incapable of keeping the sea, came, on the 24th day of June, to anchor at Jamaica. ”

“ In whichever of thesc directions the wind blows, it is cooled before it approaches the Magellanic regions, by passing over a vast body of water; nor is thc land there of such extent, that it can recover any considerable degree of heat in its progress over it. These circumstances concur in rendering the temperaturc of the air in this district of America, more similar to that of an insular than to that of a continental climate and hinder it from acquiring the same degree of summer heat, with places in Europe and Asia, in a corresponding northcrn latitude. ”

“ Sometimes he employed all the arts of insinuation to soothe his men.—Sometimes he endeavoured to work upon their ambition or avarice, by magnificent descriptions of the fame and wealth which they were about to acquire. ”

“ In passing over their elevated and frozen summits, it is so thoroughly cooled, that the greater part of the eountries beyond them hardly feel the ardour to which they seem exposed by their situation. In the other provinces of Ameriea, from Terra Firma westward to the Mexiean Empire, the heat of the elimate is tempered, in some plaees, by the elevation of the land above the sea ”

“ Tho most sultry regions in South America, Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, and Tucuman, lie many degrees to the east of the Magellanic regions.—The level country of Peru, which enjoys the tropical heats, is situated considerably to the west of them. ”