174 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 



El Valle. Trails on the hillside were in many places washed away. 

 Gullies were deepened considerably. Rained from about midnight 

 till 10 A. M. of August 15. 



August 16. Light showers. 



August 21. Very heavy rain in El Valle. The heavy sheets of 

 rain seemed to ascend one valley to the mountain top and retreat to 

 ascend the other valley. The rain was very light on the surrounding 

 hills. During the storm and immediately after it a continuous roar- 

 ing sound arose from the valley. On investigation this proved to 

 be the rapid falling of the water down the steep gulches. Farther 

 down the small streams united and flowed into the "dry river bed." 

 The two trails running for a distance of a mile from the foot of the 

 mountain into the plaza at El Valle proved themselves to be veritable 

 rivers. They were loosely paved with stones and were walled on 

 each side so that they held in the w^ater well. A half hour after this 

 rain the trails were still submerged, and uniting with the river near 

 the plaza they formed a perfect torrent at least until 7.25 p. m. 



A very different factor from the rain is the heavy mist which almost 

 constantly hangs above the mountain. About one third of the time 

 the mountains above 600 meters are in the clouds. Very often from 

 night until 6 or 7 A. M. the hills over 300 meters are in the clouds but 

 they are never cloudy in the daytime except in case of storms. The 

 clearing of the woods which everywhere seems to be inevitable, is going 

 on here slowly. Where previously all the vegetation was dripping 

 with moisture now for the most part conditions are much drier be- 

 cause trees have been cut down thus allowing the sunlight to enter. 



In the preceding paragraphs it is seen that compared with other 

 tropical districts, Margarita has almost no rainfall. The mainland 

 in the summer season has a shower nearly every day. So has Trini- 

 dad off the northeast coast of Venezuela. While my records are 

 mostly from the south side of the island, yet excursions made to Juan 

 Griego and that vicinity indicate that it is but slightly better off. 



Although the island is desert-like in character yet from the fact 

 that it gets the northeast trades, a comfortable temperature may be 

 expected. My records average as follows: at 6 a. m., 29 degrees C; 

 at 1 p. M., the hottest, 32.4 degrees C. These records are from El 

 Valle. Porlamar always seemed hotter than this. The coolest is of 

 course on the mountain top at San Juan Mountain. The average 

 coolest is 25 degrees C, the single coldest record was 24.5 C. This 



