MONSOON.
Ransom, . . ARAB. I Etesite, GREEK, from Ir.r.
Ili Hindustan the people usually arrange the year into three periods,—the Choumasa or Burk'ha, which is the rainy season of four months' duration ; after which is the Siala or Jara or Mohasa, the gold season; followed by the Dhup-kala or K'hursa, ar hot season. This division indicates generally the course of the seasons in British India, though in one locality the rains or the hot or the cold seasons may be somewhat more prolonged than in another. In the Indian Ocean, and generally throughout India, the winds blow from certain parters periodically, and are known as the south vest and north-east monsoons, these being their Erections at sea. These monsoons prevail in the fndian Ocean, between Sumatra and the African ;oast, and between lat. 3° S. to the Asiatic coast, ncluding the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Bengal, Lod between the island of Madagascar and coast )f Africa. Both of them bring rain, and that 'rom the south-west prevails from the latter part )f May till the middle of September, and is chiefly 'elt on the west coasts of India and Burma, and iorthwards towards the Himalaya. The north-east monsoon prevails from about the middle of October 411 the middle of December, and in British India is force is chiefly felt on the eastern coast of the Peninsula. It gathers up its waters in the Australian seas and the Archipelago, where the min in its southern course increases the evapora tion.
The north-east monsoon mostly prevails in the ;ntrance of Malacca Strait, between Acheen Head old the Nicobar Islands, from November to May, he October and November winds being variable. Dn the Coromandel coast it sets in, on the average, m the 19th October, being very rarely ten days ;arlier or later. Its force Lasts till the 10th December, and milder until the middle of February. When the north-east monsoon sets in, current flows from the north, and by the 1st Srovember it runs past Madras at the rate of three miles an hour. From that date it decreases till ,he 10th December, when it amounts to a small 'raction of a mile.
The south-west monsoons, coming from•the sea, miry into the interior rains for the great water led of India. They bear with them an immense volume of vapour, as is shown by the rivers, and 7,onfirmed by the rainfall of Cherrapunji, and at 126 other stations. Cherrapunji is 4500 feet above the sea-level. It reaches quite up to the cloud region, and receives a precipitation of 5374 inches during the south-west monsoon, from May to August inclusive. Colonel Sykes reported to
the British Association, at its meeting in 1852, the rainfall at 127 places, between the parallels of and 34° in India ; and according to this report the south-west monsoons pour down during the three summer months upon this area 291 inches of rain.
The south-west monsoon generally commences in the China Sea about the middle or end of April, and continues to the beginning or middle of October. It sets in rather sooner about the Gulf of Siam and Tonquin, and along the western coasts, than over to the eastward in the open sea, near the coast of China, or near the coasts of Palawan and Luconia. It also continues longer to the south of Cape Padaran and Palo Sapata, and along the coast of Palawan, in the southern part of the China Sea, thau it does more to the northward, for southerly winds frequently prevail between the Straits of Singapore and Pule Sapata until the 8th or 15th of October, when the north-east and easterly winds are blowing in tho northern part of that sea. Between Acheen Head and the Nicobar Islands the south-west monsoon generally begins about the end of April or rather early in May, and abates in October. In September, and in the greater part of October, the winds off the north extremity of Borneo and the west end of Palawan generally blow strong from the S.W., with dark cloudy weather and much rain. In that region the S.W. monsoon is strongest and least variable in June, July, and August ; but from May to August sudden hard squalls blow sometimes out of the Gulf of Siam, as far as Pule Condore and Pule Sapata. From the Gulf of Siam to Cape Padaran the S.W. mon soon blows along the coast nearly parallel to it, though land and sea breezes are felt close to the land on the coast of Cochin-China, from Cape Padaran northward to the Tonquin Gulf. In June, July, and part of August there is in general much rain and cloudy weather all over the China Sea. On the S. coast of China the winds during the S.1V. monsoon prevail frequently at S. and S.S.E. At the autumnal equinox, storms and typhoons are very liable to occur. The N.E. monsoon, in the northern part of the China Sea, opens about the end of September or beginning of October. In the southern part of this sea it usually does not set in steadily until November. In February the strength of the N.E. monsoon abates ; during this month and in March it blows moderately, with steady weather all over the• .