Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/264

 facing in one direction westwards, in another southwards. But the general distribution of the seasons is the same as in Senegambia, the year being divided into a dry period lasting from December to the end of April, and a wet, which is again divided into a period of heavy and one of slight rains. The torrential downpours last from the beginning of May to the middle of August, when an interval of fine weather is followed towards the end of September by fresh rains accompanied by sudden storms.

Notwithstanding its equatorial position, the mean annual temperature of Monrovia is not more than 81° F., the daily variations lying between 77° and 86°; in other words, its climate corresponds to that of hot summers in temperate

zones. The greatest extremes occur during the dry season, when the intense heat of the day is followed by comparatively cool nights, caused by the harmattan blowing from the uplands of the interior. The harmattan is mostly accompanied by dense fogs, which are generally dissipated during the morning, but which at times last, like those of England, all day long. Normally the atmospheric currents succeed each other with the regularity of clockwork. The land-breeze prevails in