Introduction: Seasons and Winds. 
35 
coast of Ceram, have their rainy season during the months of our summer, when 
the S. E. Monsoon is blowing, and a great abundance of rain then falls. The 
north coast of Amboina receives less rain than the south , but the seasons are 
not so strongly contrasted as in Ceram. 
Banda Islands. “The East Monsoon brings rain and storm with it.” April, 
May and June are the wettest months, and August to November somewhat 
the driest. 
Kei Islands. — The line season seems to be restricted to three months of 
the year, viz. August, September and October. 
Am Islands. — A plentiful and generally even amount of rain fell here 
during the year 1890. Dr. de Hollander writes: “In the West Monsoon, which 
lasts from the beginning of December to April, the day- temperature is very 
high, but the nights, when a heavy dew usually falls, are on the contrary cold 
and raw ; during the East Monsoon from the middle of April till the middle of 
November the heat of the day is less oppressive and the nights less cold. The 
most rain falls at the turning of the Monsoons; at this time fever occasionally 
occurs.” 
New Guinea. — In Dutch New Guinea, as in other islands which are 
intersected by high mountains, the north coast has its fine season while the 
rainy season is on the south. Some observations at Doreh and Andei in the 
Geelvink Bay gave the prevailing winds as east — generally due east — from 
May to November, which is the dry season, and westerly during the other half- 
year — the rainy season. Stormy or violent winds were rare and occurred 
most frequently in the E. Monsoon (Meyer, Ausz. Neu Guinea Beise 1875, 
p. 20). Van der Stok records the winds at Mansinam, western shore of the 
Geelvink Bay, as N. E. from May to September, the drier period, and W. from 
November to April, with a maximum rainfall in February. De Hollander 
records the temperature as rising to as much as 35.5 ** C. (28.5® B., 96® F.) during 
the E. Monsoon. 
On the west coast the “Sailing Directory of the East Indian Archipelago” 
states that the S. E. Monsoon blows from April to November, bringing great 
quantities of rain chiefly from June to September; the N. W. Monsoon prevails 
from October to May, when the weather is fine and calm. 
Further down the north and north-east coast, some interesting figures, on 
a parallel with others already given, have been sent in from three settlements 
in Kaiser Wilhelms -Land: Finschhafen, Constantinhafen and Hatzfeldhafen. 
Finschhafen') lies at the head of the Finisterre Peninsula, south of the lofty 
Einisterre Mts. which intersect the peninsula near its north coast; Constantin- 
hafen is on the other side of the range at the head of Astrolabe Bay, and Hatz- 
feldhafen^) higher up the coast. Owing to its position, Finschhafen, together with 
the adjacent north coast of the Huon Gulf, presents a windward shore to the 
’) Finschhafen and Hatzfeldhafen are now abandoned. 
5* 
