112 Papers. [July, 



majority profess Sikhism, but the Shikarpuris worship Darya Bakhsb, 

 the River Pir of Sind. So far as is known, none of the Hindus have 

 been converted to Muhammedanism. There is, however, an instance of 

 a Hindu taking a Muhammedan girl as wife. Hindus have been in the 

 habit of buying and keeping Muhammedan slaves. These Hindus have 

 some peculiar usages of their own. Thus a Muhammedan can clean 

 his pots with ashes, sand, or dust, but he must not wash them with 

 water. A. Muhammedan may bring them water in a skin, a brass pot, 

 or an earthen pitcher. A Hindu may wash with water the baking-stove 

 belonging to a Muhammedan, sprinkle salt on it, and then bake his bread 

 on it. A Muhammedan must not touch food belonging to a Hindu, but 

 he may carry it in a pot or a piece of cloth. The author then goes in- 

 to details with regard to the ceremonies at betrothal, marriage, child- 

 birth and death ; but these do not appear to differ essentially from the 

 customs prevailing amongst the Hindus in the Panjab. 



5. The exceptional heat in Bengal, and its probable cause. — By 

 C. Little, M.A. 



(Abstract.) 



The temperature tables given for Calcutta and other parts of India 

 show that between the middle of April and the 25th of May excessive 

 heat continued without interruption, though not without fluctuation in 

 Bengal ; while beyond the western frontier of Bengal there was either 

 normal, or, as in the north-west, exceptionally low temperature. The 

 progressive character of the temperature recorded at Alipore, since the 

 establishment of the observatory there, is referred to ; and it is pointed 

 out that 107°.4 registered during the past season is the highest recorded 

 with one exception, viz., 108°.2 on the 12th of June, 1901. This latter 

 value is to some extent of doubtful accuracy. It is also shown that the 

 temperature at Calcutta exceeded 103° eleven times during April and 

 May 1903, whereas during the previous ten years the average number 

 of days on which that figure was exceeded was less than three. It is 

 claimed that excessive temperature of that nature as regards intensity 

 and duration in Bengal, must, in the absence of relatively high tempera- 

 tures in the west, be due to well defined causes not indicated by the 

 ground-level observations. Reference is made to the direction of the 

 upper current, and the writer states that his own observations of the 

 course followed by thunderstorms during the past season as well as the 

 cloud movement, whenever cloud was visible, indicate that the air- 

 current overhead was, during the period of heat, from the west instead of 

 from the more usual north-westerly direction. Assuming that a westerly 

 current from Central India is warmer than a north-westerly current 



