CLIMATE.

The climate is not unlike that of Madeira, with one wet and one dry season. From
April to October the rainfall is copious, and in summer it is limited to passing
showers. The mean temperature at the time of our visit (midsummer), in the shade, at
2 o'clock p. m., was between 78 and 80 Fah., and at 2 o'clock a. m. there was a fall
of about 6 degrees. The southeast trades blow fresh at the beginning and end of the
season, and make the climate salubrious and healthful. Our long fatiguing matches,
while making the exploration of the island, were not accompanied with inconvenience
from exposure to the direct rays of the sun, the constant breezes making the sensible
temperature always appear lower than that recorded by the thermometer. Violent
exercise induced profuse perspiration, but evaporation was always free and rapid.
Electric storms are unknown.