TEMPERATURE OF BORNEO. 31 



peans to be oppressively hot ; the thermometer gene- 

 rally averaging 70 to 72 Fahrenheit in the mornings 

 and evenings, and 82 to 85 at 2 P.M., which is 

 generally the hottest part of the day ; and though in 

 the dry season the mercury has sometimes ascended as 

 high as 92, and occasionally 93, it has not been felt 

 so inconveniently oppressive to Europeans as a hot 

 summer day in England. The houses of the Euro- 

 peans being built near the rivers, are kept cool and 

 pleasant by the breeze which generally prevails in 

 those open situations. 



As in all countries within the tropics, thunder and 

 lightning are so very frequent as to be but little 

 regarded by the inhabitants, though the former is 

 more sonorous, and the latter more vivid, than in 

 Europe. The lightning is, also, very destructive, 

 several instances of damage and loss of life by it 

 having happened, although from the smaller number 

 of inhabitants these are of less frequent occurrence 

 than in Europe. One of the men belonging to 

 H.M.S. ' Samarang/ who was cutting wood in the 

 jungle, near the Santubong mouth of the Sarawak 

 river, was killed by a tree, which had been struck, 

 falling upon him. The 'Hazard/ in 1846, was also 

 struck, and the upper works and masts considerably 

 injured ; fortunately there was no loss of human life. 

 In all the quiet seas of the East the lightning is very 

 much dreaded by European shipping, many vessels 

 having been lost in the Straits of Malacca and the 

 Java seas by its effects. A heavy shower of rain is 



