16 
HARRINGTON. 
dences of heavy rainfall rapidly disappeared as one ascended 
to the interior plateaus, where the population is chiefly 
gathered. 
III. The third type has well marked summer, autumn, 
and winter rains, with three distinct maxima both in amount 
and intensity, viz., July, November, and January. There is 
no really dry month, but March is the driest. The veranillo 
is characterized by slight intensity rather than by absence 
of rainfall, and the intensity is greatest in the winter rains. 
At Greytown, says one of the reports on the Nicaragua 
canal, “ the rainy season ends in January with a norther, 
which is usually the worst gale at this port. The dry season 
then lasts until in May, when the rains set in. The begin¬ 
ning of the rains shift from the first of May to the first of 
June, but is usually late in May. In the latter part of Au¬ 
gust and in September there is pleasant, serene weather, 
with less rain, but in October again set in the daily rains, 
with disagreeable weather. The only regular winds found 
at this place are the trade winds, which, however, do not 
blow constantly. They vary from east by north to north¬ 
east, generally at east-northeast, are not strong, and rarely 
last all night, being succeeded about 10 p. in. by light and 
baffling land breezes, varying between south-southeast and 
northwest. This place seems to be near the limit of the 
trades, so they cannot be depended on, though they usually 
blow every day, but sometimes very light and only for a few 
hours. Along the coast to the southward still less depend¬ 
ence can be placed on them, while at Monkey Point, 40 miles 
to the northward, they are stronger and more reliable.” 
In the San Juan valley, between Greytown and Lake 
Nicaragua, there is a record of six months (April to Septem¬ 
ber) in 1851. They show that the rainfall decreases as the 
river is ascended and give less than one half as much as at 
Greytown, and Menocal in 1885 * estimated the annual rain¬ 
fall of the whole basin at more than 100 inches. Dr. Brans- 
*Nic. Canal Route Report. 49th Cong., 1st session, Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 
99, 1886, p. 37. 
