741 



MOXOSTEARIN. 



MONSOON. 



7i2 



far such liberty should go.* Further, if such persons wish to be exact 

 iu their language, they should use another word than monopoly, which 

 had once a particular meaning, as above explained, and signified a 

 different thing from that which they call a monopoly. And if they 

 will apply this word monopoly to a person or persons who, by industry 

 and skill, and the judicious employment of capital, make and sell, or 

 buy and sell, much more of a thing than anybody else, they should 

 consider whether inasmuch as buying and selling are free to all, and 

 as all people wish to buy as cheap as they can, and as good as they 

 can they will apply this word in an invidious sense to any person 

 or persons who can only command customers because the customers 

 like to go to them, or because the customers can get the thing 

 nowhere else, owing to no other persons having provided themselves 

 with the commodity for sale. 



That kind of monopoly, or sole-selling, or dealing, which is given by 

 the law of copyright, and by patents, is in effect a kind of property 

 created by law for the benefit of an author or inventor, and which he 

 could not effectually acquire or secure without the aid of the law. 18 

 is not, however, a monopoly in any sense in which that term has ever 

 been used. Whether it is profitable or injurious to the community it 

 a question that concerns legislation. 



MON'O.STEARIN. [STF.ARIC ACID.] 



MoNi ^SYLLABLE. [SYLLABLE.] 



MONSOON (in French UIOUSHUH), is a term applied to the periodical 

 winds of the Indian Ocean, and, according to Marsden, is a corruption 

 of the word mnueem, which, both in Arabic and Malay, signifies a year. 

 These wind* have from the earliest times attracted the attention of the 

 navigator, as, by taking advantage of their regular blowing, an easy 

 and speedy voyage may be calculated upon with certainty; whilst, by 

 contravening their force, the voyage is rendered laborious, slow, and 

 uncertain. 



The Indian Ocean in open towards the south, and no considerable 

 island occurs between the meridian of Madagascar and that of the 

 western shores of Australia, as far south as the sea has been navigftted 

 (70 8.) ; on the west is Africa, on the north Arabia, Beloochistan, and 

 Hindustan, and on the east India without the Gauges, the Indian 

 Archipelago, and Australia. The monsoons, however, prevail also iu 

 the seas between Australia and China; and these seas are considered as 

 a portion of the Indian Ocean. 



The southern part of the Indian Ocean, or that which lies between 

 the western coast of Australia and the island of Madagascar, has the 

 r south-east trade- wind, which extends southward to between 

 28 and 30 3. lat., but its northern border varies between 12 and 

 3 S. lat., approaching nearer to the equator when the sun is in the 

 northern hemisphere. Cook found it, in February, between 10 and 

 12; Basil Hall, iu June, near 7', Nicholson, in August, at 3J ; and 

 Carterut, in October, at some distance south of Java. 



The monsoons do not begin immediately north of the northern 

 border of the trade-wind, but are separated from it by a region which 

 corresponds with the region of calms in the Atlantic. [CALMS.] Though 

 calms occur in this region of the Indian Ocean also, they are not regular, 

 and are frequently interrupted by wind**, which, when the sun is iu the 

 northern hemisphere, generally blow between south-west and north- 

 west, and, in the other six mouths, between south-east and north-east. 

 They are usually called the north west and north-east monsoons, 

 but not with propriety, as they do not coincide with the proper 

 monsoons in time, nor do they seem to be connected with them in 

 any way. 



The region of the proper monsoons Ues to the north of this region, 

 and they blow with the greatest force and with most regularity 

 between the eastern coast of Africa and Hindustan. When the sun 

 is in the southern hemisphere a north-ea&t wind, and when it is in the 

 northern hemisphere a south-west wind blows over this sea. When 

 the sun passes the equator the winds are variable, and accompanied 

 with gales, hurricanes, thunder-storms, and calms ; but it is observed, 

 that a* soon as one of the monsoons ceases, the clouds in the upper 

 regions of the atmosphere take the direction of the opposite monsoon, 

 though it is not till three or four weeks afterwards that thin monsoon 

 becomes prevalent on the surface of the sea. 



The north-east monsoon blows from November to March. It 



extends one or two degrees south of the equator. It becomes regular 



near the coasts of Africa sooner than in the middle of the sea, aud 



near the equator sooner than in the vicinity of the coasts of Arabia. 



It blows with most regularity awl force in the month of January, and 



illy in the most northern angle of the sea, between the isl.mil of 



i.i and Bombay. This monsoon is not accompanied with ram on 



; -tern coast of the sea, but it brings rain to the eastern coast of 



Africa, where the rainy season falls between the beginning of November 



and the end of March. It may be laid down as a certain fact that 



neither of the monsoons brings rain by itself, but only when it reaches 



a coast after having passed over a wide extent < 



'\'ln: south-west nuiiisiMiu dues not extend south of the equator, but 

 usually begins a short distance north of it. It blows from the latter 

 end of April to tin: middle of October. Along the coast of Africa, 

 where it rather proceed* from the south, it appears at the end of 



* At Athens there wu a law which limited the amount of corn that a man 

 eould buy. (Lj-ia, T rS, /TT>...) 



March; but along the coast of Malabar, not before the middle of 

 April : it ceases, however, sooner in the former than in the latter 

 region. It is also observed that the south-west monsoon sets in sooner 

 m the coast of Malabar than on that of Canara and Concan. At 

 Anjengo (in 8 30' N. lat.) it makes its appearance on the 12th of April, 

 and at Bombay on the 15th of April, so that it proceeds a degree 

 farther northward in the course of three days. It reaches the coast 

 of Arabia still later. On the sea it is a serene wind of moderate force ; 

 but when it approaches the coast of Hindustan, the atmosphere 

 becomes overcharged with moisture, and the rain descends in torrents, 

 but more abundantly on the southern than on the northern coast. 

 Near Tellicherry, the annual quantity of rain amounts to 116 inches, 

 but at Bombay it does not exceed 63 inches. It was formerly supposed 

 that the south-west monsoon was arrested by the Western Ghauts, but 

 a better acquaintance with the table-land of Deccan has shown that 

 the greatest quantity of rain descends on it during the south-west 

 monsoon, and with a wind blowing from south-west. It has latterly 

 been observed that its effects extend to the coast of Coromandel, 

 where, during its prevalence, a few showers fall. But the farther this 

 monsoon advances into the continent, the smaller is the quantity of 

 rain which it causes. Northward its effects extend over the table-land 

 of Malwa, the low country along the course of the Indus, and even to 

 the coast of Beloochistan, as far as the Straits of Ormuz. 



Both monsoons occur in the Bay of Bengal, but there they are some- 

 what modified and less regular. The north-east monsoon does not set 

 in regularly before the beginning of December, when it blows from 

 north-nortn-east and east-north-east. In January and February it is 

 irregular, and frequently turns to the south-east; and in March it 

 ceases entirely in the centre of the sea, and blows faintly in the north- 

 eastern parts, with long intervals of calms. Though the north-east 

 monsoon only becomes regular in December, it is preceded by heavy 

 squalls and winds in the southern parts, especially along the coast of 

 Coromandel ; and it is during these squalls that this part of Hindustan 

 is fertilised by abundant rains, which however are less plentiful than 

 those brought to the coast of Malabar by the south-west monsoon. 

 The mean annual quantity of rain at Madras does not exceed 46 inches. 

 The south-west monsoon is more regular in its strength, but not in its 

 direction, as it blows frequently from the south, and even from south- 

 east, especially near the mouth of the Ganges. Little rain falls during 

 this wind on the west coast of the Gulf of -Bengal ; but rain is abundant 

 in the countries which enclose it on the north, in which direction it 

 extends to the foot and declivities of the Himalaya mountains, and as 

 far as the place where the Ganges issues from the ran,'e ; but here too 

 the quantity decreases as it advances inland. The mean annual quantity 

 of rain at Calcutta is nearly 72 inches, and at Benares 464 inches. The 

 quantity of rain which, during this monsoon, descends on the eastern 

 coast of the bay, is still larger, especially towards its northern recess, 

 in Chittagung and Aracan, where, according to a rough estimate, founded 

 on partial observations, it amounts annually to 200 inches. 



The monsoons are subject to much greater variation to the east of 

 the Bay of Bengal. In the Chinese Sea and the Sooloo Sea the wind is 

 south-south-east when the sun is in the northern hemisphere, but it 

 does not blow with regular force, being sometimes interrupted by high 

 winds. It brings rain to all the countries which surround the sea on 

 the north and east. In the southern provinces of China, in the 

 Philippine Islands, and in the Sooloo Islands, the rainy season com- 

 mences in the beginning of May, and terminates in September and 

 October. The rains, though rather abundant, when compared with 

 those which fall in the countries without the tropics, are much inferior 

 in quantity to the rains in Bengal and Chittagong. It is remarkable 

 that these rains extend to the countries surrounding the Gulf of 

 Tonkin. The monsoon blows in these seas from north north-west when 

 the sun is iu the southern hemisphere ; but it is still less regular in its 

 force, though more so than in the Bay of Bengal It brings rain to 

 the countries on the west and south of the sea, and especially to the 

 coast of Cochin China Proper and the nurthem shores of Borneo, where 

 the rains commence at the end of October ami continue until March, 

 They are more abundant than those which fall during the opposite 

 monsoon on the northern and eastern shores of the Chinese Sea. 



Along the equator, and about one or two degrees from it, it appears 

 that the winds are subject to frequent changes ; and it is also observed 

 that the islands situated within these limits have frequent showers 

 nearly every day in the year. 



In the Java Sea and the southern parts of the straits which lead 

 from that sea to the Chinese Sea, the wind generally blows from the 

 west when the sun is in the southern hemisphere, and from the east 

 when it is in the northern hemisphere ; but it turns frequently to the 

 north-west and south-east, which is also the case with the winds in the 

 sea south of Java, and between the Lesser Smula Islands and Australia. 

 The westerly winds bring rain to these islands, but not in such abun- 

 dance, as the south-west monsoon carries them to Malabar. During 

 the easterly winds the air is generally dry, but sometimes there are 

 heavy showers. In these islands neither season has that decided per- 

 manent character which distinguishes it on the continent of India, and 

 the rains are far from being so violent. But the northern coast of 

 Australia partakes more of the character of the season of the contiuent 

 of India. The rains indeed do not seem to come down with such 

 violence; not a drop falls during June, July, August, and September 



