THE HURRICANE SEASON. 175 
and coolest, and the birds in perfect plumage. In 
April commence light showers, which sometimes ex- 
tend through June, and are of daily occurrence. The 
heat increases, and the months of August and Sep- 
tember are the hottest, as they are the sickliest, of 
the year. August ushers in the season of storms 
and hurricanes, when the calm intervals are almost 
insupportable on account of the heat. The last three 
months of the year constitute the season of the great 
rains, when for days together the rain falls heavily. 
These are the months for endemic fevers. Though 
the storms are frequently accompanied by thunder 
and lightning, I did not see, during my stay of nearly 
two years, such furious displays as I have witnessed 
in the North. 
We drifted south of Antigua without a breeze. The 
morning and the afternoon saw Antigua’s hills not’ 
far away; and the long, hot day was spent upon 
a motionless sea, without a breath of wind to fan 
our flapping sails. At sunset Guadeloupe’s windward 
island was in sight—a low, flat land, with misty 
mountains far to westward. The triple peak of Mont- 
serrat showed black against a glowing sky; the sun 
in its descent drew a pathway of gold along the sil- 
very sea and darted into our faces its fiery beams. 
“The western wave was all aflame; - 
The day was well-nigh done.” 
In heat and discomfort the day went out; but dark- 
ness had scarcely enveloped us when the sea began to 
dimple with little- wavelets, that increased and lapped 
with refreshing sound against our vessel’s sides; then 
the sails felt the coming of the evening breeze, and 
