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WINDS OF THE MADEIRA PLATE. 255 



hewing a large canoe, like the one we*descended in from Vinchuta. 

 When complete, it will be worth from thirty-five to forty dollars. 



The floods rise up into the streets of Loreto, and the church floor is 

 so damp they have commenced a raised foundation for another along- 

 side of it. 



The southeast winds were exceedingly raw and wet during our two 

 days' stay at Loreto, so we had a poor opportunity to see the inhabitants. 

 They keep their houses during these cold, damp days ; such weather is 

 the most pleasant for travelling. We returned to Trinidad by the same 

 and only road, which continues on to Santa Cruz, through a wild 

 country. 



In the month of June, sometimes fresh winds blow from the north- 

 west, over the bottom of the Madeira Plate, veering often to north and 

 northeast ; but this is seldom the case. When the wind is from the 

 northwest, the thermometer ranges at 82° in the morning, and as high 

 as 90° in the afternoon. Although the dust is very much disturbed by 

 it, the population sit out of doors in the calm, clear evenings after the 

 wind goes down with the sun. This wind seldom exceeds three con- 

 secutive days ; it then changes, and blows from southeast, rather lighter, 

 but brings fogs. Rain falls from the clouds ; and, in the latter part of 

 June, during these winds, the thermometer falls as low as 66° in the morn- 

 ing and 10° in the afternoon. The natives then shut their doors, and 

 keep in from the street; their cotton camecitas are doubled, or one of bark 

 cloth put on. The Indians suffer for the want of proper clothing ; they 

 shiver, and are perfectly helpless until this wind changes to the north- 

 west, when the town becomes enlivened again — the southeast winds being 

 wet winds and the northwest winds dry. These two currents appear to 

 be struggling against each other. The northwest winds appear like 

 water-carriers going back with dry buckets ; as they pass the town of 

 Trinidad, the southeast winds are pushed out of the way, and after they 

 have passed, then the southeast winds come up like a train of watering 

 pots, and down drizzles the rain, and the dry atmosphere, as well as the 

 hot soil, becomes cooled and watered. The rains are seldom heavy in 

 the month of June, nor are the winds strong except in puffs from the 

 southeast. We have never witnessed such regularity in the distribution 

 of heat and cold as we find in the Madeira Plate. The dry and wet 

 winds are independent of the dry and wet seasons. The trees here ripen 

 their fruits, while, at the same time, they put forth fresh buds and blos- 

 soms. Vegetable life goes on in rapid succession, and seems to be as 

 regular as the year in and out. In the month of July, the southeast 

 winds blow a little fresher, and sometimes veer round to the southwest. 



