SEASONS. 41 



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

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

 he absence of any effort to accumulate capital either in the form o:^ 

 Qoney or of supplies. 



PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF GUAM. 



CLIMATE AND RAINFALL. 



Seasons. — ^Though Guam lies within the Tropics, its climate is tem- 

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

 (lowing from the northeast and east. Its mountains are not high 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 ioes not correspond exactly to that based on temperature, for the" 

 leriod of maximum temperature precedes that of the greatest rainfall. 



During the winter months the wind blows briskly and steadily from 

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

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

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

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

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

 rade wind and the presence of moisture in the atmosphere causes 

 he heat to appear greater than it is. 



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

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

 2° F. in May and June, the hottest months. The highest absolute 

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

 Dwest, 66° F., in December. 



Though the mean monthly temperature varies only 2° on either side 

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

 efinitely marked that certain wasps which during the summer make 

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

 he people at that season and hibernate there. 



Meteorological Tables. — The following tables, compiled from 

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

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

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

 31eveland Abbe, jr., who, through the courtesy of Prof. Willis L. 



