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TROPICAL NATURE,

AND OTHER ESSAYS.

I.

THE CLIMATE AND PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE

EQUATORIAL ZONE.

The three Climatal Zones of the Earth-Temperature of the Equatorial Zone ---Causes of the Uniform High Temperature near the Equator-Influence of the Heat of the Soil-Influence of the Aqueous Vapour of the Atmosphere-- Influence of Winds on the Temperature of the Equator- Heat due to the Condensation of Atmospheric Vapour-General features of the Equatorial Climate-Uniformity of the Equatorial Climate in all parts of the globe-Effects of Vegetation on Climate-Short Twilight of the Equatorial Zone-The aspect of the Equatorial Heavens-Intensity of meteorological phenomena at the Equator-Concluding Remarks.

It is difficult for an inhabitant of our temperate land to realize either the sudden and violent contrasts of the arctic seasons or the wonderful uniformity of the equatorial climate. The lengthening or the shortening days, the ever-changing tints of spring, summer, and autumu, succeeded by the leafless boughs of winter, are constantly recurring phenomena which represent to us the estab‐ lished course of nature. At the equator none of these changes occur; there is a perpetual equinox and

B

a perpetual summer, and were it not for variations in the quantity of rain, in the direction and strength of the winds, and in the amount of sunshine, accompanied by corresponding slight changes in the development of vegetable and animal life, the monotony of nature would

be extreme.

In the present chapter it is proposed to describe the chief peculiarities which distinguish the equatorial from the temperate climate, and to explain the causes of the difference between them,-causes which are by no means of so simple a nature as are usually imagined.

The three great divisions of the earth-the tropical, the temperate, and the frigid zones, may be briefly defined as the regions of uniform, of variable, and of extreme physical conditions respectively. They are primarily determined by the circumstance of the earth's axis not being perpendicular to the plane in which it moves round the sun; whence it follows that during one half of its revolution the north pole, and during the other half the south pole, is turned at a considerable angle towards the source of light and heat. This inclination of the axis on which the earth rotates is usually defined by the inclination of the equator to the plane of the orbit, termed the obliquity of the ecliptic. The amount of this obliquity is 23 degrees, and this measures the extent on each side of the equator of what are called the tropics, because within these limits the sun becomes vertical at noon twice a year, and at the extreme limit once a year, while beyond this distance it is never vertical. It will be evident, however, from the nature of the case, that the two lines which mark the limits of the geographical "tropics" will not define any abrupt

change of climate or physical conditions, such characterise the tropical and temperate zones in their full development. There will be a gradual transition from one to the other, and in order to study them separately and contrast their special features we must only take into account the portion of each in which these are most fully exhibited. For the temperate zone we may take all countries situated between 35° and 60° of latitude, which in Europe will include every place between Christiana and Algiers, the districts further south forming a transitional belt in which temperate and tropical features are combined. In order to study the special features of tropical nature, on the other hand, it will be advisable to confine our attention mainly to that portion of the globe which extends for about twelve degrees on each side of the equator, in which all the chief tropical phenomena dependent on astronomical causes are most fully manifested, and which we may distinguish as the "equatorial zone." In the debateable ground between these two well contrasted belts local causes have a preponderating influence; and it would not be difficult to point out localities within the temperate zone of our maps, which exhibit all the chief characteristics of tropical nature to a greater degree than other localities which are, as regards geographical position, tropical.

Temperature of the Equatorial Zone.-The most characteristic, as it is the most important feature in the physical conditions of the great equatorial zone is the wonderful uniformity of its temperature, alike throughout the changes of day and night, and from one part of the year to another. As a general rule, the greatest heat of the day does not exceed 90° or 91°

Fahr., while it seldom falls during the night below 74° Fahr. It has been found by hourly observations carried on for three years at the meteorological observatory established by the Dutch government at Batavia, that the extreme range of temperature in that period was only 27° Fahr., the maximum being 95° and the minimum 68°. But this is, of course, very much beyond the usual daily range of the thermometer, which is, on the average, only a little more than 11° Fahr.; being 12.6° in September when it is greatest, and only 8.1° in January, when it is least.

Batavia, being situated between six and seven degrees south of the equator, may be taken as affording a fair example of the climate of the equatorial zone; though, being in an island, it is somewhat less extreme than many continental localities. Observations made at Para, which is continental and close to the equator, agree however very closely with those at Batavia; but at the latter place all the observations were made with extreme care and with the best instruments, and are therefore preferred as being thoroughly trustworthy.1 The accompanying diagram, showing by curves the monthly means of the highest and lowest daily temperatures at Batavia and London, is very instructive; more especially when we consider that the maximum of temperature is by no means remarkably different in the two places, 90° Fahr. being sometimes reached with us and not being often very much exceeded at Batavia.

1 "Observations Made at the Magnetical and Meteorological Observatory at Batavia. Published by order of the Government of Netherlands India. Vol. I. Meteorological, from Jan. 1866 to Dec. 1868; and Magnetical, from July 1867 to June 1870. By Dr. P. A. Bergsma. Batavia, 1871." This fine work is entirely in English.

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