During the month of _February_ the thermometer continues low; but the dry, bracing cold of the three preceding months is changed for a damp and chilly atmosphere: the number of fine days is much diminished, and cloudy or foggy weather of more frequent recurrence in February and March than in any other months. At Macao, the fog is often so dense as to render objects invisible at a few yards’ distance. The weather in the month of _March_, as stated above, is damp and foggy; but the temperature of the atmosphere becomes considerably warmer. To preserve articles from damp, it is requisite to continue the use of fires and closed rooms, which the heat of the atmosphere renders very unpleasant. From this month the thermometer rises until July and August, when the heat is at its maximum. The thick fogs which begin to disappear towards the close of _March_, are, in April, seldom if ever seen. The atmosphere, however, continues damp, and rainy days are not unfrequent; the thermometer at the same time, gradually rises, and the nearer approach of the sun, renders its heat more perceptible. In this, and the following summer months, southeasterly winds generally prevail. In the month of _May_, summer is fully set in, and the heat, particularly in Canton, is often oppressive; the more so from the closeness of the atmosphere, the winds being usually light and variable. This is the most rainy month in the year, averaging fifteen days and a half of heavy rain; cloudy days, without rain, are, however, of unfrequent occurrence; and one half of the month averages fine sunny weather. _June_ is also a very wet month, yet, taking the aggregate, the number of rainy days is less than in the other summer months. The thermometer in this month rises several degrees higher than in May, and falls but little at night. It is this latter circumstance chiefly, which occasions the exhaustion often felt in this country from the heat of summer. The month of _July_ is the hottest in the year, the thermometer reaching eighty-eight in the shade, at noon, both at Canton and Macao. This month is also subject to frequent heavy showers of rain, and, like the month of August, to storms of thunder and lightning. The winds blow almost unintermittingly from southeast or south. In the month of _August_ the heat is generally as oppressive as in July, and often more so, although the thermometer usually stands lower. Towards the close of the month, the summer begins to break up, the wind occasionally veering from southeast, to north and northwest. Typhoons seldom occur earlier than this month or later than the end of September. In _September_ the monsoon is generally broken up, and northerly winds begin to blow, but with little alleviation of heat. This is the period most exposed to the description of hurricanes called typhoons, the range of which extends southward, over about one half of the Chinese sea, but not far northward; they are most severe in the gulf of Tonquin.