26th November 1832

Montevideo
The ship got under weigh at noon, but we anchored at night without leaving M: Video. The occasion of this delay caused a painful scene on board. During the morning the heat on shore was excessive, & far more intolerable than that of the Tropics. I fully felt the truth of what Mr Daniell has ascertained to be the fact; namely that the difference between the heat of the suns rays & temperature of the atmosphere increases as the latitude becomes higher & in a greater ratio than the Temp. decreases. Hence it happens that the thermometer would actually rise higher when exposed to the sun in London than under the Equator; also it proves how completely all the effects of climate depend on mean temperature. The day had been beautiful, but the barometer foretold a change, so that in a calm we anchored & struck our top gallant masts. It was not in vain, a little after 10 o’clock the squall struck us & it blew heavily all night.

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