Hot dry winds are unknown, but in the height of the wet
season--which coincides with the dry season of the Southern States--the
moisture-laden air may be likened to the vapour of a steam bath. While
the rain thunders on the roof at the rate of an inch per hour, inside the
house it may be perspiringly hot. After a fortnight's rain the damp
saturates everything. Neglected boots and shoes grow a rich crop of
mould, guns demand constant attention to prevent rust, and clothes packed
tight in chests of drawers smell and feel damp. But the atmosphere is so
wholesome that ordinary precautions for the prevention of sickness are
generally neglected without any fear of ill consequence.
However sharply defined by reason of the personal discomfort it inflicts,
this steamy feature of the wet season is no more a general characteristic
than the hot winds are of Victoria. Warm as the rains are, they bring to
the air coolness and refreshment. Clear, calm, bright days, days of even
and not high temperature, and of pure delight, dovetail with the hot and
steamy ones. The prolifigacy of vegetation is a perpetual marvel; the
loveliness of the land, the ineffable purity of the sky, the glorious
tints of the sea--green and gold at sunrise, silvery blue at noon, purple
pink and lilac during the all too brief twilight, a perpetual feast.
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