Even So It Cannot Stand With
Reason And Nature Of The Clime, That The South Parts Should Be So
Intemperate As The Bruit Hath Gone.
For as the same do lie under the
climes of Bretagne, Anjou, Poictou in France, between 46 and 49
degrees, so can they not so much differ from the temperature of those
countries:
Unless upon the out-coast lying open unto the ocean and
sharp winds, it must indeed be subject to more cold than further
within the land, where the mountains are interposed as walls and
bulwarks, to defend and to resist the asperity and rigour of the sea
and weather. Some hold opinion that the Newfoundland might be the more
subject to cold, by how much it lieth high and near unto the middle
region. I grant that not in Newfoundland alone, but in Germany, Italy
and Afric, even under the equinoctial line, the mountains are extreme
cold, and seldom uncovered of snow, in their culm and highest tops,
which cometh to pass by the same reason that they are extended towards
the middle region: yet in the countries lying beneath them, it is
found quite contrary. Even so, all hills having their descents, the
valleys also and low grounds must be likewise hot or temperate, as the
clime doth give in Newfoundland: though I am of opinion that the sun's
reflection is much cooled, and cannot be so forcible in Newfoundland,
nor generally throughout America, as in Europe or Afric: by how much
the sun in his diurnal course from east to west, passeth over, for the
most part, dry land and sandy countries, before he arriveth at the
west of Europe or Afric, whereby his motion increaseth heat, with
little or no qualification by moist vapours.
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