282 INDICATIONS OF THE RAINY SEASON. 



brilliant constellations. Thus all things continue 

 till about the beginning of March, when the whole 

 scene is quickly and strangely altered. The deep 

 blue of the cloudless sky becomes less intense, and 

 the stars, veiled at night by a slight vapour, lose the 

 steady and planet-like light which before distin- 

 guished them; that black spot which gives so pecu- 

 liar a character to the magnificent constellation of 

 the Southern Cross is hardly perceptible; the vertical 

 stars of the Eagle and Ophiuchus shine with a 

 tremulous and diminished light, and by degrees the 

 soft phosphorescent glimmer of the Magellanic 

 clouds is extinguished. The fresh breeze which 

 tempered the heat becomes at this period less 

 strong and regular, and often ceases altogether for a 

 considerable time. A few faint wandering clouds 

 appear at intervals on the verge of the horizon, 

 attended by misty vapours, which ascend, waving 

 like banners, to the zenith; then huge mountain- 

 clouds accumulate towards the south-south-east, 

 now stationary and charged with electric fluid, and 

 now traversing the heavens with a celerity that 

 little corresponds with the feebleness of the warm 

 wind that blows occasionally across the plain. As 

 weeks pass on, and March is nearly over, the 

 southern region of the atmosphere becomes illumi- 

 nated by frequent gleams of lightning, and a brisk 

 wind passes to the west and south-west. This is a 

 sure indication of the rainy season, wbich commences 

 at the Orinoco, and rapidly asserts its empire over 

 the scorched earth. The sky assumes a gray tint 

 instead of the brilliant azure which surpassed even 

 that of an Italian sky; the heat gradually decreases, 



