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from time to time at 20° above the horizon. 

 The breeze at this period becomes less strong, 

 less regular, and is often interrupted by dead 

 calms. The clouds accumulate toward the South- 

 South-East. They appear like distant moun- 

 tains, with outlines strongly marked. From 

 time to time they detach themselves from the 

 horizon, and traverse the vault of the sky with 

 a rapidity, which little corresponds with the 

 feeble wind that reigns in the inferior strata of 

 the air. At the end of March, the southern 

 region of the atmosphere is illumined by small 

 electric explosions. They are like phospho- 

 rescent gleams, circumscribed by one group of 

 vapours. The breeze then passes from time to 

 time, and for several hours together, to the West 

 and South-West. This is a certain sign of the 

 approach of the rainy season, which begins at 

 the Oroonoko about the end of April. The sky 

 begins to be obscured, the azure disappears, and 

 a gray tint is spread uniformly over it. At the 

 same time the heat of the atmosphere progres- 

 sively increases ; and soon they are no longer 

 clouds, but condensed vapours, that cover the 

 whole vault of the sky. The plaintive cry of the 

 howling monkies begins to be heard before the 

 rising of the Sun. The atmospheric electricity, 

 which, during the time of great droughts, from 

 December to March, had been constantly, in 



