New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-05-04
ysrr LABOR IN BRITISH GUIANA AND
BhRBADOES.
fseeosd Article
yuI CLIMATE AND SEASONS OF BRITISH


Having given in the preceding article descnp-
sep Of the topography and soil OF bnhsh GUIANA
ve come now to its climate and MISUNDERSTANDING
stances of no less importance in their bearing upon
- industry, productiveness, and social usages Of
~ colony
From the close vicinity Of British Guiana to the
equator, and from the effects Of the trade winds
which blow almost constantly upon its coasts, upon
which almost its entire population is concentrated
his colony enjoys the advantage, far as heat and
seA are concerned, of great uniformity of tenn
psrature, extending through the whole year. The
mean annual heat is about 800 of Fahrenheit, the
maximum and minimum, which are seldom toucneo'
being soc and 74o.
As British Guiana lies to the north OF the equ'-
Der, the coolest and hottest weather-depenoen' a'
they are, upon the suns ponton-"ccui ALI '"o
same months az with The COOLEST nion'as a'o
January, February and March, ana inc hos'o''
tAo,e Of Juy and August. The intense heat whcn
might be expected from the suns double passage
over the zenith of the colony between the months oil
March and September ia mitigated by the canopy
Of thick clouds and by the heavy and frequent rams
which chsra sterile that period of the year; to
which also the favorable exposure of the colony to
The sea contributes, 90 from the direction OF the
coast the trade wind impinges directly upon it. AT
the period however, above referred to, this latter
refreshing benefit is in considerable measure lost
owing to the failure or ntermittepcy of that wind
which, though it produces little effect upon the
thermometer, is very sensibly felt by the human
subject
1t thus happens that the mean temperature OF
each month does not differ much from the mean an
mail temperature, the principal variations of the
thermometer being of diurnal character aud de-
pendent upon the position of the sun above or below
the horizon. The coolest months show mean tenn
perature OF fraction over 77o while the hottest do
not much exceed so and seldom rise to go. In
the sun at noon the thermometer, at all seasons Of
The year win rise to 1859.
1t il one result Of this uniformity Of temperature
Mat small variations of the Thermometer, such as in
eur changeable climate would hardly be noticed,
produce marked effect on the feelings and CON-
fort Of the inhabitants. Such is the with the
diurnal variations to which reference has been
made. AS the sun goes down the Thermometer falls
degree or two. 1t continues to fall during the
before sunrise, that is-since the variation in the
length of the days and nights is in this latitude but
trifiDg-about four O'Clock in the morning. The
effect of this small change is very great upon the
comfort of the inhabitants. Sleep is never pre-
vented by those excessively hot nights which with
Us in the heat of Summer, often 60 oppressive.
A linen or cotton sheet generally sufices for bed
clothes, though at some seasons of the year, espe-
eaIly during the rains of the early months Of the
year. blanket to some constitutions is by no means
disageeable. Goodness and chiliness of the trade
wind, which at that season generally blows with
vigor and with more north in it than at any other
time, is sometimes complained Of and occasionally
produces colds and sore throats. As general
thing, however, there is a very great freedom from
such ae ctons and pocket-handkerchiefs, so far al
least as the nose is concerned, are by means the
indispensable articles which they so generally are
with Us.
The most marked variations in the state Of the
weather and those by which the vgor and we'll
being of animal vegetable life are mainly affected,
are not those of heat and cold, but of wind and
rain OF the winds, it may be remarked that
though violent squalls are in the rainy seasons Of
occasional occurrence, yet that such a thing as a
lorg-continuea storm, or even gale, is entirely un-
known. Vessels may anchor SAFELY at any season OF
the year along any part of the shallow coast. Like
the whole belt Of the earth within ten degrees of the
equator, and which might properly enough be de-
nominated the equatorial zone, British Guiana il
out of the track of the hurricanes by which the
belts extending from this equatorial zone to the
tropics are liable to be desolated. This remarkable
distinction, the freedom from violent connections Of
the atmosphere, and the eqasbility of temperature
by which this equatorial belt is distinguished from
the morencrthen and southern portions of the trop
seal zone, frequently overlooked even by very well
informed penons. Miss Martineau who chose De ne
rara as the scene Of one Of her political economy
stories, exposed herself to grestdeal of rdcule on
the part of the cOlonists, by assuming that what
true of Jamaica aud other West India islands, OF
which she had obtained knowledge from books,
would hold good of Demerara Thus she blasts the
coffee on the hills by cold winds from the north,
whereas in Demerara there are neither hills mol
north winds; and she makes the catastrophe o.
the story turn upon hurricane-a phenomenon
totally unknown in the colony.
British Guiana may be said to have only twt
winds the sea breeze or trade-wind, which comes
always from the east, bat accordingly as the sur
is south or north of the equator, with northerly
or southerly deviation, and the land wind By which
during certain parts of the twenty four hours
specially in the months in which the sun is NORTH
al la1o al n,