404 



that are easily recognized. I shall here note the 

 progress of atmospherical phenomena in the 

 islands to the East of the Cordilleras of Merida 

 and of New Grenada, in the Llanos of Venezuela 

 and the Rio Meta, from four to ten degrees of 

 North latitude, wherever the rains are constant 

 from May to October, and comprehending con- 

 sequently the periods of the greatest heats, which 

 is in July and August *. 



Nothing can equal the clearness of the atmos- 

 phere from the month of December to that of 

 February. The sky is then constantly without 

 clouds ; and if one should appear^ it is a pheno- 

 menon that engages the whole attention of the 

 inhabitants. The breeze from the East, and 

 the East-North-East, blows with violence. As it 

 brings with it air always of the same tempera- 

 ture, the vapours cannot become visible by 

 cooling. 



About the end of February and the begin- 

 ning of March, the blue of the sky is less intense, 

 the hygrometer indicates by degrees greater hu- 

 midity, the stars are sometimes veiled by a slight 

 stratum of vapours, and their light is no longer 

 steady and planetary ; they are seen twinkling 



* The maximum of the heat is felt on the coast, at Cu- 

 mana, at La Cuayra, and in the neighbouring island of Mar- 

 garetta, not before the month of September; and the rains, 

 if this name can be given to a few drops that fall at intervals^ 

 are observed only in the months of October and November* 



