THE WEST COAST OF AFEICA. ' 163 



(89.) Lieutenant Bold also says, that the Winds and Weather on all 

 parts of the Windward Coast are much alike, excepting that the rains 

 commence rather earlier in the S.E. The wintry season makes its appear- 

 ance early in June, by strong breezes and occasional heavy gustR from the 

 Southward and S.E., accompanied with rains, which increase violently 

 and continue until the latter end of August ; this is succeeded by a series 

 of close foggy weather, during which the land appears enveloped in vapour, 

 occasioned by exhalations from the humid soil. This is justly considered 

 to be the most pernicious season in the year to the European constitution ; 

 ths whole atmosphere being then impregnated with deleterious matter, 

 generated by decayed vegetation. During the rains there are no land 

 winds, neither in the month of October, when the wind is strong down the 

 coast ; in the following month it gradually draws down to the South and 

 Westward, with occasional rain. Toward the middle of December the 

 weather begins to clear up, and the summer season to make its appearance ; 

 this continues until June, with a beautiful clear sky and gentle refreshing 

 breezes from the S.S.W., during the last ten or twelve weeks of which the 

 Tornados prevail very violently ; but these come on generally in the 

 evening, and give ample warning to the navigator to prepare against their 

 dreadful impetuosity. 



The same intelligent navigator adds: — The seasons on the Gold Coast 

 are precisely similar to those of the Windward Coast, with the exception of 

 their successively commencing a month earlier. Along the coast, in the 

 winter season, when the winds are from the S.W. the swell and surf on 

 the beach are excessively high, and too dangerous in many parts to permit 

 landing. 



The seasons on the Coast of Dahomey, dc, are nearly similar to those of 

 the Gold Coast ; the rains commencing in May, preceded by Tornados 

 and equally boisterous weather, with Southerly and S.S.E. winds from tne 

 month of March, causing a heavy sea in the bight, with a violent surf 

 along shore. The finest months here are from September to March, during 

 which the winds are from W.N.W. to W.S.W., with cool refreshing breezes 

 by day, and land winds at night. But it is to be observed that, in the 

 rough season and the winter months, there are no land winds, and the 

 current is frequently found running rapidly to windward. 



(90.) Commander E. G. Bourke remarks, that on the coast of Liberia, 

 between Capes Mount and Mesurado, as well as upon the coast Westward, 

 between Cape Mount and Cape St. Anne, the rains begin with May, and 

 continue till October, accompanied with great thunder and lightning, and 

 furious gusts of wind from the North- Westward. During this time the 

 sea sets so hard to the N.E. along the coast, and with mountainous 

 billows, that it is impossible to approach the shore ; so that sailing ships 

 which, between July and September, happen to fall below Cape Mount, 

 cannot, without great difficulty, get about to the South. 



The Winds, &c., of the Bight of Biafra, and the African Coast to the 

 Southward, are described in the " Directory for the South Atlantic Ocean,"' 

 by the author of the present work. 



