26 J. STANLEY GARDINER. 



night or day ; such temperature is, however, very exceptional. The wet and dry bulbs are 

 never far apart, and they commonly approach within 1° of one another during the south- 

 west monsoon. The temperature of the sea varies greatly from year to year. The Admiralty 

 Charts for the region of Minikoi give February 82°, May 86°, Augiist 81° and November 

 84°. My observations for the four months I spent in this atoll were, expressed in round 

 numbers, June 87°, July 84°, August 83° and September 84°. The maximum and minimum 

 daily temperatures seldom varied more than 4° at depths of 4 to 8 feet ; the observations, 

 recorded above, are the mean of these. The temperature outside the reef and within the 

 lagoon never varied more than 2° F. 



[Note. Mr Forster Cooper on reading over the above chapter has offered me the following 

 observations in respect to his cruise in March and April, 1900: — "In my journey through the 

 atolls of South Male, Felidu, Mulaku, Kolumadulu and Haddumati I experienced only north- 

 westerly winds with the exception of a due easterly gale, lasting three days, while I was in the 

 south of Felidu atoll (March 12—14). 



"Little current was noticeable during the cruise within the encircling reefs of the atolls, but 

 in the dividing channels it varied usually between 2i and 3 knots per hour, setting westerly. In 

 the channel between Kolumadulu and Hadduroati of Veimandu island the current reached 6i knots 

 per hour. It appears in the north-east monsoon to be always very strong in this channel ; a native 

 boat was a few years ago carried completely away, eventually reaching the African coast near 

 Zanzibar." 



The currents of either monsoon tend to run very strongly up and down the Maldive chain. 

 As above shown, they reach to a considerable depth, and naturally tend to be much impeded by 

 the banks. A strong current would be expected in the Veimandu channel, the N.E. horn of 

 Haddumati directing the down current in this direction. 



Capt. Pigott, R.N.R., S.S. "Vasna," B.I.S.N. Co., informs me that on the night of June 2.5th, 

 1899, he experienced a set S. SFE. of 34i miles in 12i hours off the east of Miladumadulu 

 and Tiladumati atolls. The weather was fine and settled, with a light westerly breeze, the sea 

 calm with a long low swell from the south-east. The course was N.b.W., Mafaro at 4:-20 p.m. 

 bearing 12 miles due west. In the middle of the "Eight and a Half Degrees Channel" the 

 current was setting about | knot per hour due E. This observation shows very admirably how 

 the current washes around the banks.] 



