SEASONS. 41 



ricanes, which destroyed the results of their labor; (2) the unwise 

 course of certain governors in discouraging individual enterprise; (3) 

 the absence of any effort to accumulate capital either in the form of 

 money or of supplies. 



PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF GUAM. 

 CLIMATE AND RAINFALL. 



SEASONS. Though Guam lies within the Tropics, its climate is tem- 

 pered throughout the greater part of the year by a brisk trade wind, 

 blowing from the northeast and east. Its mountains are not high 

 enough to cause marked differences in the distribution of rain on the 

 island, and the island is not of sufficient extent to cause the daily alter- 

 nating currents of air known as land and sea breezes. Generally 

 speaking, the seasons conform in a measure with those of Manila, the 

 least rain falling in the colder months or the period called winter 

 (invierno) by the natives, and the greatest rainfall occurring in the 

 warm months, which are called summer (verano) by the natives. The 

 year may be divided into a rainy and a dry season, but this division 

 does not correspond exactly to that based on temperature, for the 

 period of maximum temperature precedes that of the greatest rainfall. 



During the winter months the wind blows briskly and steadily from 

 the northeast and east. In June it becomes unsteady, veering to the 

 east and southeast, and by September what is generally known as the 

 u southwest monsoon" sets in. The climate is healthful in compari- 

 son with other tropical countries, the only period when sickness may 

 be expected being that of July and August, when the absence of the 

 trade wind and the presence of moisture in the atmosphere causes 

 the heat to appear greater than it is. 



The mean annual temperature is about 80 F., and the mean monthly 

 temperature ranges from 78 F. in December, the coldest month, to 

 82 F. in May and June, the hottest months. The highest absolute 

 temperature recorded in 1902, 90 F., occurred in June and July, the 

 lowest, 66 F., in December. 



Though the mean monthly temperature varies only 2 on either side 

 of the mean annual temperature, yet the "winters" of Guam are so 

 definitely marked that certain wasps which during the summer make 

 their nests in the open fields among the bushes invade the houses of 

 the people at that season and hibernate there. 



METEOROLOGICAL TABLES. The following tables, compiled from 

 observations made at the naval station at Agana, the capital of Guam, 

 show the temperature, rainfall, and prevailing winds for each month 

 of the year 1902. They are taken from a report drawn up by Dr. 

 Cleveland Abbe, jr., who, through the courtesy of Prof. Willis L. 



