island as a whole, the average
mean temperature for July, the hottest month, is about 82 deg., and for
January, the coolest month, about 71 deg.. The mean for the year is about 77 deg.,
as compared with 52 deg. for New York, 48 deg. for Chicago, 62 deg. for Los Angeles,
and 68 deg. for New Orleans. There are places that, by reason of exposure to
prevailing winds, or distance from the coast, are hotter or cooler than
other places. Havana is one of the cool spots, that is, relatively cool.
But no one goes there in search of cold. The yearly range in Havana, from
maximum to minimum, rarely if ever exceeds fifty degrees, and is usually
somewhat below that, while the range in New York, Chicago, and St. Louis
is usually from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five degrees. The
particular cause of discomfort for those unused to it, is the humidity that
prevails throughout the greater part of the year. The worst season for
this, however, is the mid-year months when few people visit the island. The
winter months, locally known as the "_invierno_," a term to be associated
with our word "vernal" and not with "infernal," are almost invariably
delightful, bringing to northern systems a pleasurable physical laziness
that is attended by a mental indifference to, or satisfaction with, the
sensation.

[Illustration: WATERING HERD OF CATTLE _Luyano River near Havana_]

The rainfall varies so widely in different parts of the island, and from
year to year, that exact information is difficult. Taken as a whole, it is
little if at all greater than it is in most places in the United States. We
have our arid spots, like El Paso, Fresno, Boise, Phoenix, and Winnemucca,
where only a few inches fall in a year, just as Cuba has a few places where
the fall may reach sixty-five or seventy inches in a year. But the average
fall in Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Santiago, is little if any
greater than in Boston, New York, or Washington. A difference appears in
the fact that about three-quarters of Cuba's precipitation comes between
the first of May and the first of October. But the term "wet season" does
not mean that it rains all the time, or every day, any more than the term
"dry season" means that during those months it does not rain at all. At
times during the winter, or dry season, there come storms that are due to
unusual cold in the United States. These are known in Cuba, as they are in
Texas, as "northers." High winds sweep furiously acr