During the hours of mid-day, no work can be done in the fields by the white men; the “hands” therefore, return home and doze away the time in the out offices, and work early and late in order to atone for their meridian slumber.
The city is preferable as a place of residence during the heat of summer. The neat awnings that shelter the whole of the side walks prove an agreeable protection from the powerful influence of the sun’s rays, when it is necessary to go from the doors. During the hottest part of the day little is done by the gentlemen, besides loitering about, reading the newspapers, and drinking iced punch, and other mysterious compounds; while the ladies, reclining on the sofas fan themselves, drink lemonade, and doze. Business transactions of all kinds occupy the early hours of the morning; then the ice carts perambulate the city, and provisions for the day are procured. After mid-day the streets are deserted; those who have leisure, retire to doze away the hours; the shopkeeper closes his doors and slumbers behind the counter; a solemn stillness reigns, and the city seem forsaken and desolate.
The twilight is of very short duration, and the setting sun is succeeded by a greater state of darkness than with us; but, as a compensation, the moonlight appears clearer and much brighter, and in winter, it is truly delightful.
The scorching summer usually terminates with September; and is succeeded by a month of the most charming weather I ever experienced. This is October—the American autumn. Now the sun’s dreaded rays lay aside a portion of their fiery force, the forest trees begin to change the hue of their leaves, and, instead of green, nature’s universal livery, colours of all shades gradually appear, from the dark purple to the lightest yellow. The immense variety of trees accounts for the many coloured foliage, and if variety be charming, it is here beheld in perfection—not merely the sombre tints seen at the same season in an English coppice—but purple, red, brown, and every colour that can be produced on the palette of the artist.
This is likewise the season for abundance. Apples, the finest in the world, peaches, melons, and fruit of every kind that grace the orchard, are produced in such profusion, that even in the city they are sold for very little more than the expense of their carriage. Maze, which is here cultivated with singular care and judgement, is now seen in every direction, waving its purple tassels in the breeze; and imparting a peculiar character to the landscape scenery.
The iron reign of winter usually commences about the middle of November. From that time till the last days of April the weather is excessively cold, but the atmosphere it must be allowed, is delightfully clear and pleasant to the eye. Were it a matter of choice, and were I doomed to live in America, I should certainly prefer a perpetual winter, cold as it is, to the broiling summer and its extreme variations, with their dreaded consequences.
The lowest point of the thermometer this winter was three degrees below zero. This was in January, but for several days it was below ten degrees, and for weeks, it seldom rose higher than eighteen. Although the cold in winter is very severe, still very little rain falls; or I should rather say, rain seldom falls; but hail, sleet, and snow comes plentifully in storms of considerable duration. In the absence of these the air is cold indeed, but delightfully pure and translucent.
The changes of the thermometer in winter are neither so sudden nor so rapid as in summer, but the winds are as fickle then, as during any period of the year. Those from the north and the west are equally cold, and the north-west wind is dreaded in winter more than any other. Frequently the wind will suddenly veer from a particular point of the compass to the one diametrically opposite. I never knew this to take place in England.
According to what I have advanced, the greatest heat during this year was 105°, and the greatest cold 3° below zero; the extreme variation therefore, will be 108°. Hence it appears, that during the summer, New York, which is situated about 40° of latitude, endures the heat of Egypt or Arabia, and, in winter, the cold of Stockholm or Petersburg. Nor is this all, for in no part of the old world, are the diurnal vicissitudes of the atmosphere either so sudden or in such extremes. Petersburg is cold in winter and cool in summer: Egypt is never absolutely cold—but the climate of the eastern shores of North America is ever variable, and alone uniform in unwholesomeness.
The miasma produced by the heat of the sun, from the vegetable matter deposited in the numberless marshes, that every where abound in an uncleared country, is another fruitful source of disease. Then there are sicknesses arising from local causes. With a climate marked by such extremes of temperature, and vicissitudes so sudden, combined with the pestilential effluvia arising from vegetable decomposition, there can be no wonder if America is one of the most unhealthy places in the world.