"You are in the best season of the year," said one of their new acquaintances; "it's fortunate for you that it's not hurricane time now."
"We have here," he continued, "a dry season and a wet one. The former is cool, and lasts from May to October; the latter is hot, and lasts from October to May. During all the dry season, and for a month at each end of the wet one, the climate is delightful, the temperature varying from 70° to 78° or 79°, and the heat of the sun being tempered by breezes from the sea. The mean temperature is about 80°, the extreme ranges thus far recorded being 60° and 122°. From Christmas to March is called the 'hurricane season;' the air is moist and sticky, the temperature averaging 84°, with a humidity so great that one seems to be constantly in a Russian steam-bath. This is the unhealthy season, and fevers and other diseases due to the heat and moisture are common."
Frank asked if hurricanes were frequent during the season.
"Not at all," was the reply, "but when they do come they are in dead earnest. From 1879 to 1886 we didn't have a really severe hurricane; but this is, I believe, the longest interval known to any of the European residents. One old settler told me there were several years when not a season passed without at least one hurricane."
"Are they very destructive?" Fred inquired.
"I can best answer that question," said the gentleman, "by describing the first hurricane I ever passed through in the Feejees.
[Illustration: FORMATION OF CLOUDS BEFORE A FEEJEEAN HURRICANE.]
"I was on a plantation in which I had bought an interest, and during the whole of the month of March the weather was very calm and sultry. One day, towards the beginning of April, the wind turned to the north-west, which was quite unusual; squalls and showers followed, and then the breeze freshened into a gale. Heavy clouds covered the sky, thunder sounded loud and long, the barometer fell, and the clouds seemed to sweep just above the tops of the trees. Then the rain came in torrents, flooding all the level ground, and turning the brooks into rivers. Our party took shelter in the largest and strongest house in the neighborhood--one that had stood through several hurricanes, and was thought to be proof against them.