In the month of October the weather becomes sensibly cooler than during the preceding months, and in November the north and northeast winds generally set in, diffusing an agreeable coolness through the surrounding atmosphere.  The body becomes braced and active, and the convalescent feels its genial influence.  The north wind is accompanied (with few exceptions) by heavy showers of rain on the north coast; and the sea rolls on that coast with tempestuous violence, while the south coast remains perfectly calm.

When the fury of the north wind abates, it is succeeded by fine weather and a clear sky.  Nothing can exceed the climate of Porto Rico at this season; one can only compare it to the month of May in the delightful Province of Andalusia, where the cold of winter and the burning heat of summer are tempered by the cool freshness of spring.  This is considered to be the healthiest season of the year, when a European may visit the tropics without fear.

The small islands, destitute of wood and high mountains, which have a powerful effect in attracting the clouds, suffer much from drought.  It sometimes happens that in Curacao, St. Bartholomews, and other islands there are whole years without a drop of rain, and after exhausting their cisterns the inhabitants are compelled to import water from the rivers of other islands.

“The land breeze” is an advantage which the large islands derive from the inequality of their surface; for as soon as the sea breeze dies away, the hot air of the valleys being rarified, ascends toward the tops of the mountains, and is there condensed by cold, which makes it specifically heavier than it was before; it then descends back to the valleys on both sides of the ridge.  Hence a night wind (blowing on all sides from the land toward the shore) is felt in all the mountainous countries under the torrid zone.  On the north shore the wind comes from the south, and on the south shore from the north.

Storms.—­The hurricanes which visit the island, and which obey the general laws of tropical cyclones, are one of the worst scourges of the country.  For hours before the appearance of this terrible phenomenon the sea appears calm; the waves come from a long distance very gently until near the shore, when they suddenly rise as if impelled by a superior force, dashing against the land with extraordinary violence and fearful noise.  Together with this sign, the air is noticed to be disturbed, the sun red, and the stars obscured by vapor which seems to magnify them.  A strong odor is perceived in the sea, which is sulphureous in the waters of rivers, and there are sudden changes in the wind.  These omens, together with the signs of uneasiness manifested by various animals, foretell the proximity of a hurricane.