280 DRY AND RAINY SEASONS. 



from April to October ; such, on the other hand, as 

 are situated southward of the Line, have their rainy 

 season also during the hottest period of the year. 

 This merciful arrangement spreads on high a canopy 

 of clouds, which screens both men and animals, and 

 the vegetable world, from the otherwise insupport- 

 able heat of the sun's downward rays. Before the 

 rainy season on the Llanos nothing can surpass the 

 clearness of the atmosphere : the sky is constantly 

 without clouds, and if one should appear, it would 

 be considered by all who saw it as indicative of 

 some alarming change. Meanwhile the breeze from 

 the east and north-east blows frequently with vio- 

 lence, and this, added to the vertical rays of a cloud- 

 less sun, reduces the grass to powder, and causes the 

 earth to crack in all directions. Funnel-shaped 

 clouds of sand frequently arise from off the ground, 

 analogous to water-spouts, so formidable to the 

 mariner when at sea, and would be equally dan- 

 gerous if not avoided when seen approaching. They 

 are generally occasioned by the meeting of two 

 winds at an angle, and by their turning upon a 

 centre, at which time all light substances are carried 

 up into the air by the whirling motion that ensues. 

 These partial whirlwinds always arise during the 

 prevalence of a dead calm : in this also the analogy 

 between air and water is preserved, for on the 

 latter the water is drawn up in a manner precisely 

 similar to that of sand from off the desert. When 

 one of these sandy whirlwinds arises it is fearful to 

 be in the vicinity. A troubled straw-coloured light 

 imparts a ghastly hue to every object, and the 

 mighty concavity of heaven seems as if it had been 



