^Q Introduction: Seasons and Winds. 



are July, August and September. June is also a fine month, though somewhat 

 more rain falls than in October, when the returning N. W. Monsoon, the true 

 rainy wind, can hardly have commenced to blow home. The wettest months 

 of the year are from November to March, inclusive, when the N. W. Monsoon 

 is in force. It has been stated that while Borneo south of the equator is having 

 its rainy season under this wind, the parts of the island north of the equator, 

 over which the N. E. Monsoon is blowing, are tine; but this is not altogether 

 true. The great western projection of the island upon which Sarawak near its 

 north coast), Sinkawang west coast, Pontianak (south coast) ai'e situated, receives 

 its heaviest amount of wet at the same time as South Borneo. This is also the 

 case at Sintang far inland a little north of the equator. The N. E. Trade-wind 

 does not blow in force right down to the equator, and, when the N. AV. Mon- 

 soon is going on in the islands south of the equator, an indraught of the de- 

 flected N. E. wind must needs take place. In the South China Sea in the 

 islands of Bintang, etc. this deflected wind is felt for half the year as a pre- 

 vailing North wind (see, p. 32), and, no doubt, as such, or even as a N. W. 

 wind, it passes over Borneo a little north of the equator, bringing with it great 

 quantities of moisture from the China Sea. 



In Northern Borneo the seasons vary much according to locality. Dr. de 

 Hollander speaks of the S. W. (April — October) as the rainy monsoon, and 

 the N. E. [October — April as the fine one, and so also the Sailing Directory 

 of the Indian Archipelago; but there is much to take exception at in these 

 statements. In an article on the climate of British North Borneo by Mr. Robert 

 H. Scott (Journ. II. Met. Soc. 1889, pp. 200—219), to which Dr. van der Stok 

 has kindly called our attention, it is stated that "the true wet season occurs at 

 Sandakan (on the N. E. coast) in the N. E. Monsoon, and includes the months 

 of November, December and January, and generally part of October or February 

 or both . . . 'Jhe true dry season immediately follows this true wet season, and 

 includes March and April, and generally the whole of May and part of Febru- 

 ary . . . This true dry season is followed by a period of moderate rainfall, 

 commencing generally about June. The first month or six weeks of this period 

 almost deserves to be called a second wet season, and the rest of the period 

 up to the commencement of the true wet season might be described as the 

 second dry season". AVith these variations, the actual figures taken at Sandakan 

 and Kudat show that by far the larger half of the total rainfall is depo.sited 

 during the N. E. Monsoon, which is not to be wondered at. seeing that these 

 places then 'present a windward shore to the Monsoon passing over the 

 Sooloo Sea. 



At Labuan, the average for 1 1 years shows that the first four months of 

 the year — the closing ones of the N. E. Monsoon — are the driest. 



The following tables are taken from those of Dr. van der Stok fRegen- 

 waarnemingen in Ned. Ind. 1895, 416, 417), and Scott, /. c. (the inches 

 of the latter converted to mm . 



