A DRY SEASON 



193 



flowing current, with the brisk connter-movement of the 

 atmosphere, are no doubt the chief causes of the salubrity 

 of the district. The seasons vary very considerably. 

 Thus, in 1849, as already mentioned, the period of dry- 

 ness and strong breezes was unusually short, and the 

 river, in consequence, did not sink to its usual level. 

 In 1854 I witnessed the opposite extreme. The wet 

 season, from February to June, had been very severe, 

 and the waters had risen to their highest point. It took 

 us, in the months of June and July, in a well-manned 

 vessel, fourteen days to ascend from Santarem, a distance 

 of only no miles. The currents were very strong; all 

 the low lands were flooded, and great portions of land 

 planted with cacao on the coast of Obydos were swept 

 away. At Villa Nova it was very hot, gleamy, and 

 showery up to the end of August. The welcome dry 

 winds then set in, and lasted until the 20th of November, 

 by which time the river had receded to its lowest level. 

 At that date commenced a series of heavy rains, which 

 continued, however, only nine days ; but the weather 

 remained showery to the end of the year. On the 3rd 

 of January a kind of second summer began, and this was 

 a most delightful time. The vegetation which had be- 

 come parched up in November had been freshened by 

 the showery weather of December, and the open places 

 were covered with a carpet of the brightest verdure. The 

 marly and sandy terrace-formed beaches were clothed 

 with a great diversity of flowering shrubs. Birds and 

 insects were far more numerous and active than they had 

 been before. A species of swallow of a brown colour, 

 with a short square tail (Cotyle), then made its appear- 

 ance in great numbers, and built its nests in holes of the 

 bank on which the village is built, trilling forth in the 

 mornings and evenings a short but sweet song. The east 

 wind recommenced. It blew at first gently, but increased 

 in strength daily as the dryness augmented : and with 

 it came a dense fog, a rare phenomenon in this country, 

 but which I found to be of regular occurrence in the central 

 parts of the Lower Amazons when the dry season was 

 much prolonged. For three successive weeks the daily 

 order of the weather was almost uniform. The mornings 

 dawned with a clear sky, a stiff breeze blowing and 

 tossing the waters into billows, searching through our 

 dwellings, and communicating a healthful exhilarating 



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