28 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
of the months, almost every alternate day, though 
sometimes there are some weeks of dry weather. 
The rainy season, the only variation of the 
tropical year, occurs when the sun is vertical, and 
generally continues from December to March, 
At this season the rains are heavy, and often 
incessant for several weeks — the streams are 
swollen and muddy—the low lands overflowed— 
fences washed away—and, unless great care is 
taken, many plantations destroyed. The winds 
are also variable and tempestuous, the climate 
is more insalubrious, and sickness among the 
people greater, than at any other period. Thunder 
and lightning are frequent on the islands, espe¬ 
cially during the rainy season. The lightnings 
are vivid and awful, though not frequently injurious 
to the dwellings, or fatal to the inhabitants. The 
thunder is sometimes loud and terrific, often more 
appalling than any I ever heard in any other parts 
of the world. The awful effects of the loud and 
quick-succeeding thunders is probably much in¬ 
creased by the hilly nature of the country, which 
greatly augments the reverberations of the deaf¬ 
ening reports. 
Among the natural phenomena of the South Sea 
Islands, the tide is one of the most singular, and 
presents as great an exception to the theory of Sir 
Isaac Newton as is to be met with in any part of 
the world. The rising and falling of the waters of 
the ocean appear, if influenced at all, to be so in 
a very small degree only, by the moon. The height 
to which the water rises, varies but a few inches 
during the whole year, and at no time is it elevated 
more than a foot, or a foot and a half. The sea, 
however, often rises to an unusual height, but this 
appears to be the effect of a strong wind blowing for 
