CHAPTER VIII. 



THE RAINS CONTINUED 



THE rains continued till the end of August. Some 

 few days were pleasant enough. As the rain fell 

 the wind blew, and passing through the falling water, 

 it diffused an agreeable coolness, while the clouds above 

 subdued the glare. On such days I could sit by the 

 open window, read, and gaze out on the garden with 

 much tranquil enjoyment. But days of this description 

 were exceptional. Between the showers there were often 

 long intervals of most oppressive heat, and when again 

 the rain fell, descending through a motionless atmos- 

 phere, it brought no coolness ; it only added to the heat 

 an intolerable dampness. So saturated often was the 

 air with moisture, that clothes seemed to adhere to 

 one's person ; paper felt damp to the touch ; and every 

 article of leather — boots, shoes, the binding of books, 

 trunks, and harness — if not continually wiped, became 

 encrusted with mould. And yet the thermometer 

 showed that the temperature was in reality always from 

 three to four degrees lower than it had been during the 

 much less oppressive heat of the preceding period of 

 the hot winds. The damp heat, so enervating to us, 

 seems to have an invisoratine effect on the insects. 



