Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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Then Come The Real Winter
Rains, Which Cease Only In The Month Of November, And During Which
Torrents Of Water Pour Down From The Skies.
It was during the winter season that we took up our first abode in
the Missions.
Every night a thick fog covered the sky, and it was
only at intervals that I succeeded in taking some observations of
the stars. The thermometer kept from 18.5 to 20 degrees, which
under this zone, and to the sensations of a traveller coming from
the coasts, appears a great degree of coolness. I never perceived
the temperature in the night at Cumana below 21 degrees. The
greatest heat is felt from noon to 3 o'clock, the thermometer
keeping between 26 and 27 degrees. The maximum of the heat, about
two hours after the passage of the sun over the meridian, was very
regularly marked by a storm which murmured near. Large black and
low clouds dissolved in rain, which came down in torrents: these
rains lasted two or three hours, and lowered the thermometer five
or six degrees. About five o'clock the rain entirely ceased, the
sun reappeared a little before it set, and the hygrometer moved
towards the point of dryness; but at eight or nine we were again
enveloped in a thick stratum of vapour. These different changes
follow successively, we were assured, during whole months, and yet
not a breath of wind is felt. Comparative experiments led us to
believe that in general the nights at Cumanacoa are from two to
three, and the days from four to five centesimal degrees cooler
than at the port of Cumana.
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