•goo t5« the Natural Hijlory if Gulatia. 



•fleep in hammocks, and the houfes they have are pervious enough to the air ; fo they arii 

 fenfib'y affected by any change in its temperature. 



Seafoiis. — As to the feafons, it is not an eafy matter, from the accounts given by the 

 colonifts, to afcertain them exa£tly. All feem to agree, that fince cultivation has been fome- 

 what extended they are not fo regular as before ; that the dry feafon encroaches on the 

 rainy, and that during the latter they have often feveral dry days in fucceffion. 1 he ac- 

 count given by Dr. Bancroft was the one generally allowed ; that it is dry about the 

 equinox, and rainy about the folfticcs ; that of confequence the^ have two wet and two dry 

 feafons every year. We thought it difficult to reconcile this with the account given of the 

 feafons of other countries in firailar climates, and with what nftually takes place in the 

 Carib iflands. I will give you my ideas on the fubjecl. It is within the tropics a very gene- 

 ral rule, that the vicinity of the fun brings the rainy feafon. To the northward of the 

 line, therefore, this muft be our furamer months. It is aiiother invariable law, that as in 

 lunar influences, fo in the change of feafons produced by the fun, fome time is necefTary 

 after the maximum of the caufe to produce the full cffeci. The highed tides are not till 

 two or three days after the full and change. The greateft heat of the day is tv/o hours 

 afternoon, and. the hotted months in Europe are July and Auguft, not June, when the 

 fun is highcft. Among the Weft India iflands the full effeft of the fun's vicinity is ftill 

 later. 1 have found Auguft, and more efpecially September, to be the liotteft months in 

 the year, and they are accordingly the height of tHe rainy feafon. It begins thus : No 

 fooner has the fun come to the northward, and begun to be vertical among the iflands in 

 April and May, than his force is felt, the (ky is more difturbed, the wind is more frequent- 

 ly from the fouthward and in fqualls, and now and then there are heavy fliowers. In 

 June the fame effefts continue, and increafe in July, when the proper rainy feafon may be 

 faid to begin, and continues in force more or lefs till the middle of O£lober. Auguft and 

 September, with part of July and Oclober, when thefe effefts are at their greateft height, 

 are ftyled the hurricane months, and by the French I'hivernage. During them the full 

 force of the great luminary which diftributes light and life, however neceffary, feems fome- 

 times too much for nature. She is oppreffed and fickens ; her refpiration is difordered by 

 intenfeheat ; fometimes calms, fometimes heavy fqualls; the agitated elements vent them- 

 felves in lightning, with thunder and torrents of rain, or are fometimes thrown out into 

 thofe horrid convulfions, hurricanes, which feem to threaten inftant diflblution. Guiana is 

 happily free from thefe fcourgesof the Antilles. Their force has lately been partially felt 

 at Tobago, which was thought beyond their reach. In Trinidad, the greateft ftorms they 

 have hitherto experienced do not deferve the name of hurricanes ; and to the fouthward on 

 the main of America they are utterly unknown. The difference then between Guiana and 

 the iflands is this : In the former, the rainy feafon fets in earlier, as indeed the fun is 

 fooner vertical. Their principal rains are in the end of April, in May, June and July, 

 They are alfo fooner over ; for Auguft, September and Odlober, and I believe part of 

 July, arc commonly fair wcatlier. But again November, in part December, January and 

 February, reckoned dry months among the iflands, are in Guiana a fecond rainy feafon. 

 The caufe of this I take to be as follows : North-eafterly winds prettty ftiff, cold and bleak 

 comparatively in thefe climates, are frequently among the iflands during the winter 



monilji. 



