6 Mr. II. F. Blanfori On the Connexion of the [May 1, 



mean than when the summer rains are excessive." In an elaborate 

 paper subsequently drawn up by Mr. Hill and published in 1879, in 

 vol. i, Part 3, of the " Indian Meteorological Memoirs," he has 

 rediscussed the subject, at considerable length, and has put forward 

 his matured views based on much more extensive evidence. Instead, 

 thru-fore, of quoting further from his or Mr. Archibald's original 

 writings, I will take the statement of his conclusions as set forth in 

 the postscript to his later paper. This is as follows : *These results 

 strongly support my original conclusion, that the winter rains are 

 heaviest when the summer rains are defective, and vice versa. They 

 also support the idea put forward by Mr. Blanford, in his report for 

 1876, that an unusual amount of precipitation over Northern India 

 and the Himalaya, in winter and spring, may, by modifying the 

 normal distribution of pressure, cause the rainfall of the succeeding 

 summer to be defective in the Gangetic Valley, though of course 

 they throw no light on the question of the influence of the Himalayan 

 snowfall on the meteorology of the Bombay Presidency. 



" Thus the following twelve years had the winter rainfall excessive, 

 and that of the summer defective, viz., 1845, 1850, 1851, 1852, 

 1853, 1859, 1865, 1866, 1868, 1869, 1877, and 1878; and the thirteen 

 years 1846, 1847, 1854, 1856, 1858, 1861, 1862, 1863, 1867, 1871, 

 1873, 1874, and 1875, had dry winters followed by wet summers. 

 Against these twenty-five instances in favour of the rule, we have 

 only three years, 1855, 1870, and 1872 with the rainfall excessive at 

 both seasons, and six years, 1848, 1849, 1857, 1860, 1864, and 1876, 

 with a deficiency both in summer and winter." 



The Contrast of the Mountain Winter Rainfall and Summer Rainfall 

 on Plains. Mr. Hill's conclusion, as above stated, is based on a 

 comparison of the winter rainfall (November to April) of the North- 

 Western Provinces, with that of the summer (May to October) in the 

 same area, and the statistics of the former term of comparison, as 

 well as those of the latter, are furnished therefore chiefly by stations 

 on the plains of Northern India. In general, no doubt, precipitation 

 on the mountain zone varies more or less pari passu with that on 

 the plains. But still, this is only true as a rough generalisation. 

 The terms involved in the hypothesis now under discussion are 

 strictly and rigorously, on the one hand, the winter and spring snow- 

 fall on the hills, and on the other, the summer monsoon rainfall on 

 the plains. Moreover, Mr. Hill has included in the summer rainfall 

 that of the month of May. As regards the plains this is perhaps 

 admissible, but in the North-Western Provinces the May rainfall is not, 

 strictly speaking, that of the summer monsoon rains. It is either 

 due to diurnal storms, or to what is known as the chhota barsdt, or 

 little rains, a burst of rainy weather, which frequently precedes the 

 " Indian Met. Mem.," TO!, i, p. 209. 



