54 



The port of Cumana is only seven nautical 

 leagues* from Cumanacoa. It scarcely ever 

 rains in the first of these two places, while in 

 the second there are seven months of wintry 

 weather. At Cumanacoa, the dry season be- 

 gins at the winter solstice, and lasts till the 

 vernal equinox. Light showers are frequent 

 in the months of April, May, and June. At 

 this epoch the dry weather takes place again, 

 and lasts from the summer solstice to the end 

 of August. Then come the real winter rains, 

 which cease only in the month of November, 

 and during which torrents of water pour down 

 from the skies. According to the latitude of 

 Cumanacoa, the sun passes by the zenith of the 

 place the first time on the 16th of April, and 

 the second, on the 27th of August. It appears 

 by what I have said, that these two passage s 

 coincide with the beginning of the rains, and 

 the great electrical explosions. 



It was during the winter season that we took 

 up our first abode in the Missions. Every night 

 a thick fog covered the sky, like a veil uniform- 

 ly extended ; and it was only at intervals, that 

 I succeeded in taking some observations of the 



* The itinerary distance reckoned in the country is 12 

 leagues : but these leagues contain scarcely 2000 toises. I 

 have deduced the real distance from astronomical observa- 

 tions made at Cumana and Cumanacoa, and published in 



1806. 



