570 SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS ON WINDS. ETC. 



time Tornados are frequent and violent ; but, with caution, vessels may 

 have sufficient time to prepare for them. Capt. Livingston observed none 

 here to begin with small clouds, but all with heavy thunder clouds. 



ISLES de LOS.— The Climate, in general, maybe said to be healthy, 

 though the rainy season lasts from April to December. It is thus 

 described by Captain Belcher. About the 8th or 10th of January the 

 Harmattan, or cold strong easterly winds, continue, with some strength, 

 for about a week or ten days ; after which, the land-wind and sea-breeze 

 take place till about the middle of February, when the wind becomes 

 continual and N.W. or N.N.W., till the last full or change of the moon in 

 March. Tornados generally begin and prevail, more or less, till May or 

 June ; then the rains set in, and are almost continual all July and 

 August ; they begin to abate in September, and go ofi in October, giving 

 place to Tornados, which continue till about Christmas. During the 

 rainy season the winds are mostly between South and West, or in the 

 S.W. quarter ; and the Tornados always blow with prodigious force from 

 the E.S.E. or thereabout, accompanied with thunder, lightning, and a 

 deluge of rain. When a Tornado has happened in the night, it is im- 

 possible to imagine the clear state of the atmosphere next morning ; we 

 have nothing like it in Europe. 



SIEERA LEONE. — The Climate of Freetown is oppressively hot, 

 damp, and muggy ; the annual mean is 79 \° F. The wet season begins in 

 May, and ends in November, and an average of eight years (1878 — 1885) 

 gives the annual rainfall 147 inches. The rains end in the sickliest season 

 of the year, when ague, fever, dysentery, &c., are prevalent. The dry 

 season lasts from November to April. 



St. Anne Shoals. — Captain Midgley recommends that, " in the wet 

 season, vessels should give St. Anne Shoals a large berth to the eastward, 

 as the current, as well as the sea, runs with great velocity into the bight 

 of Cape Mount, and sailing vessels which may unfortunately happen to 

 fall in with the land to the northward of Sinou, in the wet season, will find 

 considerable difficulty in working to the southward." 



LIBERIA. — The Climate is usually divided into the wet and dry sea- 

 sons, but their limits are not strictly divided ; the former usually begins in 

 the middle of May and lasts till the middle of November, June being the 

 wettest month. In November and December the weather is pleasant, 

 January is the driest month, and March the most trying to Europeans. 

 The Harmattan is experienced from the middle of December to the end of 

 February, and Tornados occur in April. 



AZORES ISLANDS. — Winds. — Strong winds are prevalent among 

 the Azores, and, as will be seen from the following Table, there are only 

 about 5 calm days on the average during the year. In summer, N.E. and 

 East winds prevail, and between June and September the weather is 

 usually very fine. In winter, or from October to April, the winds blow 

 strongly from S.W., West, and N.W., frequently coming in heavy squalls, 

 particularly from the northward ; those from S.W. generally bring rain. 

 The storms experienced at these islands being mainly of a cyclonic char- 

 acter, gales may be expected from any point of the compass. Near Florea 

 and Corvo the weather is always very changeable. 



