GENERAL REMARKS ON THE WEATHER IN MADAGASCAR, 



ANp CHIEFLY AT ITS CAPITAL, TANANARJVOU, 



From the 27th of June, 1828, till the 1st of January, 1829; with a Meteorological 

 Journal from the 1st of January to the 25th of March, 1829. 



BY ROBERT LYALL, ESQ. 



British Resident-Agent, Member of many Foreign and British 

 Societies, &c., &c. 



[Communicated by Mr. J. F. DANIELL.] 



TVTE arrived at Tamatave on the 27th June, 1828. During 

 * our residence there till the llth of July, and of four days 

 at Ivondrou, the weather was very warm, and much resembled 

 that we had experienced at Mauritius before our departure. 

 On the journey to Tananarivou, it continued very warm, even 

 during the passage of the great forest, and until we crossed the 

 river Mangoor : it then became gradually cooler ; and, as it 

 was cloudy and windy on traversing the mountain called 

 Augave, (the height of which, above the level of the sea, may 

 be five thousand feet,) it was even cold. Indeed, the change 

 of climate was very remarkable ; and the weather continued 

 cold, not only on the road to the capital, but after our arrival 

 in it. 



I entered Tananarivou on the 31st of August, on a beau- 

 tiful morning, with a splendid sun. The weather conti- 

 nued very fine, and in the middle part of each day it was 

 warm for a considerable period ; but, as there was no rain, the 

 mountains had a very barren and bleak appearance. East and 

 south-east winds blew hard, almost every evening, and ren- 

 dered it so cold, that, in slender houses, we were necessitated 

 to have recourse to woollen clothes, to a small fire both morning 

 and evening, and to blankets in the night. Excepting a few 

 days, on which it was warm, (as the 12th of August, when his 

 late majesty, Radarna, was interred, and a few hours before 

 and after mid-day,) the thermometer ranged from 50 to 60 

 of Fahrenheit for a considerable time. On the 17th of August 

 it was windy, and so cold, that we put on our cloaks to go to 

 church. The sympiesometer and the barometer were very little 

 affected, and the medium altitude of the latter may be reckoned 



