1 ( 1« )
2 CHAP. V.
3 OP THE CUMATE OP APGHAUNISTAIIN. KAIN.
4 «
5 S the occasional showers which fidl throughout the year in England,
6 aie unknowii in most Anadccoiintries, the first particular toattend
7 to in f«ft"*'"Hg thnr dimale, is the season and die quantily of the
8 periodical laina. It is this which regulates husbandr)^, and on which
9 in many countries the temperature and suooeasion of the seasons in m
10 great measure depoid.
11 The most rfwnarirahle rainy season, u that called in India the soutb-
12 west monsoon. It extends fix»m Africa to the )dal* peninsula, and
13 deluges all Uie intnmediate countries within ceattam lines of Isftitude^
14 ibr fiHir months in the year. In the south of India this m<msQon com-
15 mences about the beginning of June, but it gets later as we advance
16 towards the north. Its approach is announced by vast masses of
17 clouds that rise from the Indian ocean, and advance towards the nattb-
18 east, gathering and thickening as they approach the land. After some
19 threatening days, the sky assumes a troubled appearance in the even-
20 ings, and tho monsoon in general sets in during the night. It i»
21 attended with such a thunder-storm as can scarcely be imagined by
22 those who have only seen tlmt plu iioiiit iion in a temperate Lliniate.
23 It generally begins with violent blasts of wind, wliich are siicceeded by
24 floods of rain. For some hours ligiitning is seen ahnost without
25 intermission, sometimes it only illuminates the sky, and shows the
26 clouds, near the horizon j at others it discovers the disLauL lulls, and
27 again leaves all in darkness, when in an instant it re-appears in vivid
28 and auocessive flashes, and ezliibita the nef^^st objects in all the bright-
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