dry weather. The latter begins towards the close of the month of October, and lasts until the end of May, during which time only a few showers occasionally refresh the thirsty ground. But in the beginning of June, the rolling thunders and the forked lightning, begin to echo over the mountains and illuminate the hills, notifying the near approach of the semi-annual rains. The clouds, at first seen only as scattered specks on the horizon, now begin to congregate in the zenith, and copious showers swell the channels, and pour in torrents along the streets.
These seasons however are not so gloomy to the inhabitants, as the term would lead us to suppose. From six in the morning, till three or four in the afternoon, an unclouded sky generally invites the stranger to breathe its pure and genial air, and it is seldom before the latter hour that the firmament becomes obscured and the rains fall. With the exception of some little humidity in the atmosphere, no other inconvenience is experienced than the obligation to spend the evenings at home, an imprisonment only compulsory upon the ladies.
By the middle of October the north winds begin to blow, sweeping along with them the newly formed clouds, accompanied in their retreat as in their entry by electrical explosions, and some-
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