84 Voyage of the Novara. 



have a temperature not lower than 64, nor higher than 74? 

 degrees. Violent siroccos occur in the course of the summer, 

 which drive the thermometer up to 90 degrees in the shade ; 

 these storms, however, occur only twice or thrice a year, 

 and rarely last longer than a couple of days. Dr. Ronton, 

 who lived in Madeira from 1825 to 1831, only once during all 

 that time saw the thermometer marking 90 degrees, two hours 

 after sunset. The rainy season, marked by west and south- 

 west winds, begins at the end of September or the beginning 

 of October. In November the weather clears up^ and gene- 

 rally keeps fine till the end of December. At this period 

 snow falls on the mountains, and rain at Funchal, accompanied 

 by north-westerly winds, lasting till about the end of Fe- 

 bruary, during which time the weather is wet. The remainder 

 of the year is comparatively dry, the annual fall of rain at 

 Madeira amounting, according to Sir James Clark,* to 3Q 

 inches, there being in all about 7^ vvet days,t Avhilst at 

 Rome, for instance, it rains, on an average, during II7 days, 

 though the amount of rain-fall is only 29 inches. 



In some respects the winter is warmer at Madeira than the 

 summer, owing to the north-westerly winds and the regular sea- 



* On tlie Sanative Influence of the Climate of Madeii-a. By Sir James Clark. 

 London. 1841. 



f The fall of rain, according to Dr. Hoberdon's observations, is, on a seven 3'ears' 

 average, 30'G2 inches per annum. Dr. Mittermayi-, fi-om Heidelberg, states, on a 

 tliree years' average, the rainy days to be 95 per year. Jolmston, in liis Physical 

 Atlas of Natural Phenomena, states the fall of rain on an average to be 29-82 

 inches, and the number of rainy days 100 per amium, viz. 48 in the winter, 17 in 

 the sprmg, 4 in the summer, and 31 ui the autumn. 



