14 



Sect. V. Of Rain, &,%'. From the begin- 

 ning- of spring until autumn^ there is throughout 

 Chili a constant succession of fine weather^ par- 

 ticularly between the 24th and ,"56th degrees of 

 latitude; but in the islands^ which for the most 

 part are covered with wood^ the rains are ver^ 

 frequent even in summer. The rainy season on 

 the continent usually commences in Aprils and 

 continues until the last of August. In the 

 northern proviiaces of Coquimbo and Copiapo it 

 very rarely rains ; in the central ones it usually 

 rains three or four days in succession^ and the 

 pleasant weather continues fifteen or twenty days. 

 In the southern the rains are much more fre- 

 quentj and often continue for nine or ten days 

 without cessation. These rains are never ac- 

 compani'ied with storms or hail ; and thunder is 

 scarcely known in the country^ particularly in 

 places at a distance from the Andes^ where^ even 

 in summer^ it is seldom ever heard.* Among 

 those mountains, and near the sea, storms occa- 

 sionally oirisc^ which, according to the direction 



inhabitaHts, .uid about three times that number of nejroe? 

 and people ot a mixed race. Tiie most fertile soil in America 

 lies uncultivated, and some of its most promising niiiits remain 

 uiiwronght. MoLerlsons Ilislory ij' America, vol. iv, cliap. 7. 



*" I>iglitiiii3g is wholly unknown in the province of Chili, 

 notwilhstandiiig thunder is occasionally heard at a greut dis' 

 tance over the hwiit^," -American Caxatieer, 



