and one, and from that time until six in the evening it was clear. During the evening and night the landbreeze was accompanied with frequent violent showers. Proceeding inland to the great transverse plain of Comayagua, elevated 1800 feet above the sea, my observations, made in 1853, gave the following results: MEAN RANGE OF THERMOMETER AT COMAYAGUA. That is to say, during the above months, the mean temperature, from six o'clock in the morning until the same hour in the evening, was 79° 1'. The highest or maximum point touched by the thermometer during these months was 88°; the lowest or minimum, 68°; an extreme range of 20°. It may be observed here that, from certain peculiarities of the position of the city of Comayagua, its temperature rules higher than that of any other portion of the valley or plain in which it is situated. The temperature of Las Piedras and of San Antonio, distant about fourteen miles, has a mean of from three to five degrees lower. A little place called "El Sitio," not twenty minutes' ride from Comayagua, and not perceptibly higher, has a mean of at least five degrees less. It should also be borne in mind that, in the interior, the months of April, May, and June are the hottest of the year, and that for the remaining nine months the temperature is considerably lower. November, December, and January are positively cool, and fires sometimes become necessary for comfort. The remaining direct observations on the tempera ture of Honduras, of which we are in possession, are too few and too disconnected to be of much value. The following data, however, may serve to illustrate its variety: City of Tegucigalpa, 3420 feet elevation, for four days, from April 28 to May 4, 1853, inclusive: At the same point, from October 18th, 1854, to November 8th of the same year, the average mean at sunrise was 64°, at noon 76°, and at sunset 71°5'; the direction of the winds N.N.E. and E., with frequent showers at night. At Jutecalpa, Department of Olancho, 1100 feet above the sea level, from January 3d, 1855, to the 14th of the same month, the average mean at sunrise was 61°5', at noon 72° 5' and at sunset 69°. Guajiquero (Indian town), 5265 feet elevation, May 4th, 1853, six o'clock A. M., 56° Fahr. Intibucat, 4950 feet elevation, July 4th, 1853, six o'clock A. M., 56°; eleven o'clock A. M., 62°. City of Gracias, 2520 feet elevation, three days, from July 6th to 8th inclusive: Sta. Rosa, Department of Gracias, 3400 feet above the sea, for three weeks during the month of July, 1853: Guatemala.-The great plain, in which is situated the city of Guatemala, is elevated about 4200 feet above the sea, and lies within eighty miles of the Pacific. The opposite very complete and valuable table is reduced from the observations made at the Jesuits' College of that city, during the year 1857. It will be seen that the average maximum of the thermometer was 88° 7', the average minimum 38° 9', and the average mean 65° of Fahr. The barometrical average mean 25.23 inches, the range being very slight, showing a very equable atmospheric status. The amount of rain which fell during the year was 54.5 inches, being but little over one half of the amount which fell on the Isthmus, between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific, during the year 1852, viz., 97.7 inches. The average amount of rain which falls in America under the tropics is calculated by Prof. Johnson, in his tables, at 113 inches. At some points in Brazil, as, for instance, San Luis de Maranhao, the annual average is 276 inches; and in Guadalupe and some of the Lesser Antilles, as high as 292 inches. Observations made in the city of Guatemala, in the year 1842, by Colonel De Puydt, gave the following results: Similar observations made at noon, at the port of Santo Tomas, thirty miles to the westward of Omoa, for the months of January, February, and March of the same year, gave the following: 1857. TABLE OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, MADE IN THE CITY OF GUATEMALA, FOR THE YEAR 1857, ... 73.5° 38.9° 57.5° 25.43 25.15 25.30 40 10 46 100 000.20 30 1 0 0 25 2 20 0 000.00 18 3 4 3 11 14 3 507 8 1 1000.55 21 3 5 2 12 17 2 90 10 12 3 7 0 02.07 912 5 4 8 15 7 80.2° 49.5 64.6° 25.37 25.07 25.23 11 0 8 11 1 0 3 01.11 19 4 6 1 12 12 6 77.0° 46.5° 62.6° 25.35 25.10 25.26 504 For the Year 2 10000.24 25 2 2 2 19 10 2 88.7° 38.9° 65.0° 25.34 25.07 25.23 156 1 87 113 3655 7 54.52 205 59 68 33 131 139 95 M. De Puydt, fróm information collected in Guatemala, constructed the following table, illustrative of the seasons as marked in that republic: Of the plateau of Guatemala he remarks, "Here, as generally throughout the interior, the mean temperature is 17° of Reaum. (70° of Fahr.) during the summer. The prevailing winds are from the north; so that the climate, as compared with that of the coast, where the mean temperature is 22° of Reaum. (81° 5′ of Fahr.), is almost cold, or at least so regarded by the inhabitants of the country." Belize. The British establishment of Belize, situated near the southern extremity of the peninsula of Yucatan, on the Bay of Honduras, in lat. 17° 39' N., and long. 88° 12′ W., has a temperature and climate which may be regarded as common to the entire eastern coast of Guatemala and Yucatan, and probably not far different from that of the islands off the same coast in the Bay of Honduras. Observations made here, under the authority of the governor, for the year 1848, gave the following results: |