The herald., 1898-05-29
SfASONSIN THE TROPICS

To those Americans who are to take up
their residence in the Philippine Islands.
and have never experienced tho tropical
rains" as the wet season, lasting from
June to October, Is laconically called, a few
remarks on the lovely climate" may not be
deemed impairment. Lovely climate il
the generic epithet one hears applied In .
vague way to the remote region around
Manila by amateurs.
There are three seasons in the true
tropics-the "cold weather." the "hot
weather" and the rains" The climate Of
the first is ike that of paradise;i that of the
second like very different and ,ant.podal
territory, which shall be nameless In this
polite article, and of the thirdl4well, IL
there is a climate that is a combination Of
steam bath, warm poultice land blue
mold, the rains is like that..issz
In other words, from the middle of No
vember till the middle of March every day
is like one Of our most beautiful june days,
with cold morning and evening thrown
in, the thermometer marking G5 degrees
perhaps at noon and 40 degrees or a trifle
lower even at night. That is. the very per-
lection Of weather; it is weather as 10
weather." and no mistake.
From the middle of March TIN early in
June the heat grows gradually terrific till
1t gets to be unbearable. This climax hap.
pens about the middle Of May; then you go
on bearing 1t for two or three weeks longer
The heat flies about in zigzags. the ground
flies up to meet it, and together they make
your head swim. Hot and dry, dry and hot:
no rain, yet not drought, because 1t never
does rain and can't rain at that time OF
year. 1t doesn't know how. In the hot
weather it Is only hot. In the rainy season
1t only rains. There are no postponements
on account Of weather-at a. time. There
are no sudden changes, for the same reason.
There is comfort in these thoughts.
You put your umbrella away in camphor
IN September knowing that you will not re-
quire 1t again for eight months at least.
And you tin your ribbons, silks and kid
gloves Theoretically in May, away from mill
dew, knowing that you will not see them
again before October. There are no
barometrical surprises for the dweller in
the tropics. There is no starting on pic
mic In the distant woods, full of life and
spirits, at o'clock in the morning, in a
light muslin dress and straw hat decked
with roses. with teeth-chatterIng return
al 430 o'clock, the muslin soaked with rain
and then frozen on you, rirs of pink from
the saturated roses adjoining yoursaose. You
may come home in Manila with. your raw
blue muslin faded out white, but 1t has not
been raned or showed on, and your feet ara
drier and hotter than when you set forth on
them. But then, you don't go much on pic
MICS in the tropics. Too many snakes.
But the hot weather, being prepared for
1t, can be got through somehow. Wet sail
cloth on the top of the brougham. servant
with an umbrella whenever YOU move
houses built to keep cool in, with high CELL
ings and punhabs, and no movement re-
quired of you and no dressing for falls In
The Thermometer. and no burdening oneself
with wraps for such drops-which Is ona
reason why we suffer so Intensely here
when we venture out of sight of home-a,l
these appliances and immunities make II
possible to gasp through the Sitting hot
weather. A day or two of cremation. a LOT
or dark clouds, and one day, o, refreshing
remembrance, "a few big, round. solemn
drops are heard to slap the baked eartf,
smartly, then more and more a hard
shower, and the monsoon has burst. The
rains have come.
1t does not rain every minute in the rains
out 1t is likely at any minute to do so. In
this way, hoping yet fearing, YOU snatch
drives. And it sometimes rains at niebt
ana gives you day fair and serene. If,t
rains all day. you have to take your drives
II you want any air, at night. But there "a
no danger of your coachman's leaving or
giving warning" If you feel like starting
out Tor ten miles after dinner, which means
IL o CLOCK or so. Your coachman takes your
order TO get his horses harnessed at mid
night with the same equanimity with
which he receives a similar behest at mid
day. And he doesn't like it at either time.
The poultice and the mold in the tron,co,
rains are joys compared with the insects
which are on the rampage and on Won a
swarm of flying beetles once announced the
advent of the monsoon to startled famt1v
living in the east, and having settled thick,v
on the dinner table, the army proceeds to
walk upstairs literally and occupy the bedsi
Never Will one forget the night; when armeh
with slippers, sticks and various Inappro.
pirate missiles, the family, assisted by its
dependents, mangled and squashed 5000 O0O
Oh tnese scrunching, sickening invaders.
and then-at least 1t can be vouched for one
member OF the ousehold-sought its couch.
arrayed in hat, VEIL gloves, short boots
and all Its clothes, to wake up in seventy
different Nightmares through the horrid
darkness! 1t was perhaps not as thorough.
ly nauseating an experience-not so com.
plete In its every detail-as the journey for
health OF this same family on tugboat that
mad once run to Abyssinia for cargoes OF
sugar. Decks, cabins, saloon, ones self, the
captain and crew were six inches thick with
cockroaches, which had been in ambu.h
until we set sail, and then darkened the air
like locusts. And for each hundred killed
seven thousand sprane, full armed from
the hold to take their places.-Mary Abbott
liz Chicago Times Herald.