When the quantity of rain that not unfrequently falls in Bengal, in the course of a single day, during the rainy sea son, and the long continuance of that season, are consider ed, we shall not be surplized, that the average annual fall of rain in the lower parts of the province should be between 70 and 30 inches. During the south-west monsoon at Bombay, the quantity of rain generally exceeds 100 inches; sometimes it reaches 110 or 112 inches. At Madras, ac cording to Mr. Cockburne, who was examined before the Select Committee on the affairs of the East India Compa ny in the year 1813, upwards of 30 inches fall in the course of one month; and yet he estimates that only from 45 to '70 or 80 inches fall in the course of the year, according to the situation and severity of the monsoon. During the first part of the rainy monsoon on the coast of Malabar, that is, in the months of May and June, a considerable quantity of rain falls in the Table-land of Mysore ; but it is uncertain whether this is the effect of the monsoon, or is merely the periodical tropical rain. In the north-western extremity of the Rajah of Mysore's territories, on the summit of the western Ghauts, there are usually nine rainy months in the year. During six of these months the rain is so violent and constant, that it is impossible to go abroad, and " it is customary to make the same preparatory arrangements for provision, (water excepted,) as are adopted in a ship pro ceeding on a voyage." The elevation of this part of India is so great, that the climate is a month later than it is on the sea coast. In the mountainous parts of the province of Coimbctoor, there arc two rainy seasons ; the first is in April, and the second in July, August, September, and Oc tober. Tic north west parts of Ilindostan Proper seem the driest with respect to climate. " During the greater part of the south-west monsoon, or at least in the months of July, August, and part of September, (which is the rainy season in most other parts of India,) the atmosphere is here generally clouded ; hut no rain falls, except very near the sea. Indeed, very few showers fall during the whole year. Captain Hamilton says, that no rain had fallen during the tin cc years preceding his visit to Tatta. Owing to this, and the neighbourhood of the sandy deserts which bound it to the cast, and are not far removed from it in thc north west, the heats are so violent, and the winds from those quarters so pernicious, that the houses are contrived so as to he occasionally ventilated, by means of apertures on the tops of them, resembling the funnels of small chimnies. When the hot winds prevail the windows arc closely shut, by which the hottest part of the current of air (that nearest the surface, of course) is excluded, and a cooler part, be cause more elevated, descends into the house through the funnels. By this means also, vast clouds of dust arc ex cluded, the entry of which alone would be sufficient to ren der the houses uninhabitable." (Raynall, p. 132.) The general temperature of India, it is evident, must be very high, especially in those parts, which, like Sinde, are of a sandy soil, and dry climate, and in the more southern provinces. In the more elevated regions, however, a con sulerable degree of cold is often experienced. At ta, the following is the range of the thermometer from tober to April, with the prevalent winds during that period.
Maximum. Minimum. Winds.
October 94 70 North November . . . 89 60 do.
December . . . 882 52 North-east January 83 63 do.
February 92 68 do.
104 72 South April 110 72 do.
In Calcutta, the heat is sometimes so intense that pigeons drop clown dead at noon, while flying over the market place. In the middle districts of the province of Bengal, there are occasional thunder storms during the hot season, which render the atmosphere cool ; and in the eastern dis tricts the same effect is produced by occasional showers of rain. In the higher parts of Bengal, the weather is some
times very cold. Between the latitudes of 28' and 29°, in the province of Delhi, the heat during summer is very in tense; but when the wind blows from the northern moun tains in the winter, the thermometer falls below 30, and water freezes in the tents. The same description applies to the Shahrampore district of Delhi, which lies farther to the north, principally in the Doab. But the cold here is moderate, compared with what it is in some parts of North ern Hindostan. At the end of May in the year 1808, there were masses of snow, about 70 feet in thickness, lying un disturbed on the road to Bhadrinah, in latitude 3U°. Even in the Benares district of Allahahad, the cold of the winter is so severe, as to render fires necessary, tv bile in April, May, and June, the heat is very oppressive. The winters in the Decan, which contains a large portion of high land, are cold. At Hyderabad, and the provinces to the north of it, the thermometer during three months is often as low as 45°, and sometimes down to 35°.
The climate of Sinde, on the north-west coast of India, has been generally described. It may be added, that in the months of June and July. the thermometer ranges from to 100°. At Surat, the variations are in the course of the year from 59° to 96°. At Bombay from 64° to 98° ; the former about the end of the year. The hottest months in the Malabar coast are April and May. In the former month, the maximum height of the thermometer at Cochin is 105.
The temperature of the coast of Coromandel is in gene ral much higher than that of the provinces on the coast of Malabar; and the Carnatic and the north-west extremity of the northern Circars are deemed the hottest, not only on the Coromandel coast, but in all India. In the latter district, the French, in the year 1757, lost seven European soldiers in the course of a single day by coups de soleil. The Circars, generally, have certain varieties in their cli mate, pointed out by Mr. Grant, in his Political Survey of them, printed in the Fifth Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, on the affairs of the East India Com pany, which deserve to be noticed. To the north of the Godavery, a westerly wind, with moderate showers, begins about the middle of June : about the middle or end olAu vthe rain becomes more violent and regular ; and it continues so till the beginning of November, when stormy weather takes place, and the wind shifts to the north-cast. The weather continues moderate, with respect to tempera ture and rain, till the middle of March, when the hot sea son commences. To the south of the Godavery, the cli mate of the Circars is different in some respects. During January and February the wind blows along the shore strong from the south ; and as the sea breezes set in regu larly every day, the temperature is moderate. In March, the hot season commences ; and as the wind blows from the west over a loose, parched soil, and along the sandy and almost dry bed of the Krislinah, the temperature is most op pressive; the thermometer being sometimes raised, near the mouth of that river, to 110' for several days, even in the house, and seldom falling under 105°. In the low country of the Arcot district of the Carnatic, during the hot season, the thermometer, under the corner of a tent, rises to 100°, and, when exposed to the sun, to 12G°. If the annual heat at London be considered as represented by 1000, that of Madras will be 1565, and in July 1349 ; and if the cold in January in London be considered as repre sented by 1000, that at Madras, during the same month, will be 491. Taking the average of the whole year, the heat of Madras is less than that of Calcutta. In January the thermometer is about 70'; this is the lowest tempera ture : the highest is in July, when the. thermometer is about 91°.