CLIMATE. 131 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 first of April, at and the harbours within the Gulf of Lawrence; and it has been known strong enough, on the first of May, opposite Charlotte Town , Prince Edward Island , to bear a man across the Hilsborough. It is also generally observed, that mild winters- are always succeeded by cold springs. 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 England ; and, taking the year throughout, give a 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 moist¬ ure of a British winter. On the 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 of 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 open¬ ings made. From the observations of old people, who have lived fifty or sixty years in , as well as from the writings of those who visited the new con¬ tinent many years ago, it appears that the climate has become milder, and that the duration of winter is now