174 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
El Valle. Trails on the hillside were in many places washed away. 
Gullies were deepened considerably. Rained from about midnight 
till 10 A. M. of August 15. 
August 16. Light showers. 
August 21. Very heavy rain in El Valle. The heavy sheets of 
rain seemed to ascend one valley to the mountain top and retreat to 
ascend the other valley. The rain was very light on the surrounding 
hills. During the storm and immediately after it a continuous roar- 
ing sound arose from the valley. On investigation this proved to 
be the rapid falling of the water down the steep gulches. Farther 
down the small streams united and flowed into the "dry river bed." 
The two trails running for a distance of a mile from the foot of the 
mountain into the plaza at El Valle proved themselves to be veritable 
rivers. They were loosely paved with stones and were walled on 
each side so that they held in the water well. A half hour after this 
rain the trails were still submerged, and uniting with the river near 
the plaza they formed a perfect torrent at least until 7.25 P. M. 
A very different factor from the rain is the heavy mist which almost 
constantly hangs above the mountain. About one third of the time 
the mountains above 600 meters are in the clouds. Very often from 
night until 6 or 7 A. M. the hills over 300 meters are in the clouds but 
they are never cloudy in the daytime except in case of storms. The 
clearing of the woods which ever}^'here seems to be inevitable, is going 
on here slowly. Where previously all the vegetation was dripping 
with moisture now for the most part conditions are much drier be- 
cause trees have been cut down thus allowing the sunlight to enter. 
In the preceding paragraphs it is seen that compared with other 
tropical districts, Margarita has almost no rainfall. The mainland 
in the summer season has a shower nearly every day. So has Trini- 
dad off the northeast coast of Venezuela. While my records are 
mostly from the south side of the island, yet excursions made to Juan 
Griego and that vicinity indicate that it is but slightly better off. 
Although the island is desert-like in character yet from the fact 
that it gets the northeast trades, a comfortable temperature may be 
expected. My records average as follows: at 6 A. M., 29 degrees C; 
at 1 p. M., the hottest, 32.4 degrees C. These records are from El 
Valle. Porlamar always seemed hotter than this. The coolest is of 
course on the mountain top at San Juan Mountain. The average 
coolest is 25 degrees C, the single coldest record was 24.5 C. This 
