Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/42

 26 WEST AFEIOA. American scenery. The annual range of temperature from season to season scarcely exceeds 14° F., although at Horta M. de Bettencourt recorded a differ- ence of over 45° (42° to 87°) between the hottest and the coldest day in the whole year. The chief climatic changes are due to the directioiTof the winds, the Azores lying as nearly as possible in the intermediate zone between the trade and counter winds. AVhen the southern breezes prevail it is warm and moist, becom- ing cool and dry when the wind shifts to the north. Hence a notable contrast between the two slopes of the islands, one being exposed to the balmy zephyrs and rains of the south, the other to the northern atmospheric currents. Thus in the Azores the climatic conditions are determined less by latitude than by the aspect of the land. In general the Azorian climate presents a mean between those of Lisbon and Malaga on the one hand, and that of Madeira on the other. Between the latter island and Fayal the yearly temperature differs only by about two degrees, but in the Azores the range from winter to summer is relatively considerable. Lying 350 miles nearer to the pole, they have a colder winter but also a hotter summer than Madeira, although the heat is never so great as on the mainland of Portugal lying under the same latitude. Altogether the Azorian climate is more extreme than that of Madeira, and much less agreeable for strangers. Snow is rarely seen in the lower valleys, but hail often falls during the winter storms, and at times the hills remain for a few hours wrapped in white. It also freezes on the higher grounds, and in San-Miguel people are said to have perished of cold on the plateaux, rising 3,000 feet above sea-level. At the same time strangers are much more sensitive to the cold, in consequence of the high gales and moist atmosphere. The rainfall due to the great oceanic winds is very abundant, being at least twice as heavy as in Madeira. At Horta M. de Bettencourt recorded a hundred and ninety-six rainy days and eight of hall, with a total rainfall of 62 inches. It rains in all seasons, but especially in winter when the west winds prevail, and notwithstanding their steep incline, many of the mountain slopes are clothed with mosses and turf, resembling the peat bogs of Ireland. The rainfall, however-, diminishes from west to east, Santa-Maria, the easternmost, being also the driest island of the group. To protect themselves from the moisture and from sunstroke, always to be feared in damp climates, the peasantry in all the islands wear a sort of cloth hood, covering head and shoulders, and somewhat resembling the " sou'- westers " worn by sailors. Flora. Compared with that of Madeira and the Canaries, the indigenous flora is very poor. In the whole archipelago Watson discovered only three hundred and ninety-six flowering and seventy-five flowerless plants, mostly belonging to European species. One-eighth of the plants are common also either to the other Atlantic groups, or to Africa and America, leaving not more than fifty species peculiar to the Azores, amongst them a cherry, which has become very rare, and which would have probably disappeared had it not been introduced into the