• IN WESTERN LIBERIA. 135 



ing is, though very interesting, but a thankless task. 



The second half of July brings a welcome intermezzo 

 of dry, sunny days, which have but too speedily passed 

 away. > 



In August the rains set in with double strength and a 

 whole week of continual rain is nothing unusual during 

 this period. The small rivalets, clear as cristal in the dry 

 season, are swollen to rivers, the forest-marshes to lakes, 

 above which brushwood and high forest make a very dreary- 

 looking appearance. The lower forest-regions get inundated 

 by the swelling rivers , and the narrow foot-paths , con- 

 necting the Negro-habitations, are for a great deal im- 

 practicable. 



Towards the end of September and still more in October 

 is again the time of the tornadoes. The thickly clouded 

 sky is cleared up by tremendous thunderstorms and heavy 

 showers , which gradually diminish , during November , into 

 some faint lightnings on the evening sky , and soon the 

 setting in of the harmattan announces the beginning of 

 the dry season. 



This second tornado-time is the breeding season of most 

 kinds of birds , which begin building their nests soon after 

 their moulting period. Though breeding birds of the most 

 different genera are found throughout the whole year, the 

 months of October, November and December may be 

 looked at as the general breeding season. 



The ordinary temperature in Liberia may tolerably well 

 be compared with that of a European summer, and be- 

 comes but seldom what we call insupportable. There is 

 but little difference between the temperature of day and 

 night, much less than on the Mandingo Plains or in the 

 Sahara, where in day-time the ground is burnt by the 

 sun and , during the night , shallow plashes get covered 

 with a crust of ice. In the morning, short after sunrise, 

 our thermometers indicated never less than 76° F. , in the 

 midday , between one and two o'clock , from 88 to 90° , 

 and at six o'clock in the evening, just before sunset, 84°. 



rsotes from the Leyden ]Museuixi, Vol. VII. 



