RAINFALL AND TEIMPERATURE 191 



reserves to their necessary level. In a tropical 

 country we should, therefore, look for a heavy 

 rainy season as an indispensable condition of 

 natural fertility, with a liberal margin of rain 

 left over for distribution throughout the rest of 

 the year. It will depend upon the kind of crop 

 we w^ish to grow whether or not we require a 

 long dry season as well ; or, put conversely, the 

 selection of crop will then depend upon the 

 length and reliability of the dry season. 



The Quelimane District. 

 Complete records, extending unbroken over a 

 large number of years, necessary for a proper 

 study of the rainfall of the Province, are not avail- 

 able, yet from such as are available a very fair idea 

 can be obtained. In the following two tables the 

 statistics have been arranged in two groups, the 

 first being cocoanut plantations at the coast: — 



Coast Plantations. 



1911 — 7 months, January-July. 



