134 BRITISH AMERICA.

other times a temporary gale comes on, with the wind at south-west, and a heavy rain in two or three hours shifts it round to north-west, blowing cold and dry. Westerly winds incline in summer to the south, and towards the north in winter,land are throughout the whole year more frequent than any other wind.

As the temperature of the climate of America depends chiefly 0n the winds, the formation of that continent is evidently the cause of the frosts being more intense than in countries in parallel latitudes in Europe; a consequence arising principally from the much greater breadth of America towards the pole. Winds change their character in America. North-easterly winds, which are cold and dry in Europe, are wet and truly disagreeable in America. North-westerly Winds are, on the contrary, cold and dry, and frequent, during winter, in America, much about the same periods that north—easterly winds prevail in England. One great, if not the principal, cause of cold in America, is the directions of the mountainous ranges and basins of country, 'yvhich conduct or influence the course of the winds.

While the sun is to the south of the equator, the winds, less under solar influence, prevail from the north-west, following, however, the great features of the continent. These winds,‘blowing over the vast regions of the north,are always piercing and intensely cold. The return of the sun again, by the diffusion of heat, agitates the atmosphere, and alters the Winds, which blow from a contrary direction, until an equili- brium is produced. This does not, however, appear