PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 143 



drought of 128 days, the storm of November 21, 1874, and 

 the variability of the climate are specially treated of. 



The extension of the dominion of the Khedive of Egypt 

 southward into Equatorial Africa, and over the entire water- 

 shed of the Nile, has, under the administration of Colonels 

 Gordon and Purdy, and their chief, General Stone, Pasha, 

 given occasion to the execution of some desultory meteoro- 

 logical observations. These are published by the Egyptian 

 general staff; and the most valuable is the hourly series ob- 

 served at Fascher, in Darfour, July 14 to August 10, and on 

 September 5 and 6, 1876. 



Some notes on the meteorology of Herero-land, or that por- 

 tion of Africa immediately north of Cape Colony, are given 

 in Petermann's Mittheilunrjen^ vol. xxiv., p. 311, where it is 

 stated that the rain in the western portion of the land dimin- 

 ishes more and more from year to year, and that only the east- 

 ern portion of the country can now count upon sufficient rain- 

 fall. It has been remarked that in the last ten years the cloud- 

 and-rain wind, or the east wind, has become notably feebler. 



Papers on the Climate of Lundy Island, and on the Mete- 

 orology of Natal respectively by A. J. H. Crespi and Dr. 

 R. J. Mann were read before the British Meteorological 

 Society at its meeting in June. 



Mr. R. H. Scott publishes in the British Meteorological 

 Journal a paper, by Mr. Strachan, on the Meteorology of the 

 Fiji Islands, based on observations in 1860, 1862, and 1865 at 

 Leunka; in 1872 and 1873 at Bua; and in 1873 and 1874 on 

 H.M.S. Pearl. The healthiness of these islands is equal, if 

 not superior, to that of any other portion of the world. 



Mr; Eliot, of Calcutta, has ventured on predicting the ap- 

 proaching monsoons and rains, basing his reason upon the 

 general distribution of pressure-winds and rain during the 

 preceding season. In nearly every respect his predictions 

 have been fulfilled. 



Mr. Meldrum, of Mauritius, has prepared a series of twelve 

 monthly charts of weather over the Indian Ocean, and also a 

 storm-atlas of the same region, exhibiting the principal results 

 of his studies upon the storms of the past thirty years. This 

 very important work is now offered for publication to the 

 Meteorological Society of Mauritius and the Colonial Gov- 

 ernment. 



