[ 488 | 
* NATURAL 
HISTORY. 
\ 
SOUTH-WEST MONSOON IN INDIA. 
(From Elphinston’s Account of 
Caubul.) 
a dae most remarkable rainy 
season, is that called in India 
the south-west monsoon. It ex- 
tends from A fricatothe Malay pen- 
insula, and deluges all the inter- 
mediate countries within certain 
lines of latitude, for four months in 
the year. In the south of India this 
monsoon commences about the 
beginning of June, but it gets 
later as we advance towards 
the north. Its approach is an- 
nounced by vast masses of clouds 
that rise from the Indian ocean, 
and advance towards the north- 
east, gathering and thickening 
as they approach the land. After 
some threatening days, the sky 
assumes a troubled appearance 
in the evenings, and the mon- 
soon in general sets in during the 
night. It is attended with sucha 
thunder- storm as can scarcely be 
imagined by those who have only 
seen that phenomenon in a 
temperate climate. It generally 
begins with violent blasts of 
wind, which are succeeded by 
floods of rain. For some hours 
lightning is seen almost without 
intermission; sometimes it only 
illuminates the sky, and shows 
the clouds, near the horizon; at 
others it discovers the distant 
hills, and again leaves all in dark- 
ness, when in an instant it re-ap- 
pears in vivid and _ successive 
flashes, and exhibits the nearest 
objects in all the brightness of 
day. During all this time the 
distant thunder never ceases to 
roll, and is only silenced by some 
nearer peal, which bursts on the 
ear with such a sudden and tre- 
mendous crash as can scarcely 
fail to strike the most insensible 
heart with awe. At length the 
thunder ceases, and: nothing is 
heard but the continued pouring 
of the rain, and the rushing of 
the rising streams. The next 
day presents a gloomy spectacle; 
the rain still descends in torrents 
and scarcely allows a view of the 
blackened fields: the rivers are 
swoln and discoloured, and sweep 
down along with them the hedges 
the huts, and the remains of the 
cultivation which was carried on, 
during the dry season, in their 
beds. | 
This lasts for some days, after 
which the sky clears,. and dis- 
covers the face of nature changed 
as if by enchantment. Before 
