1 I Mr. II. F. Blanford. On the Connexion of the [May 1, 



tana. In Bengal the rains set on in the 13th, which is a day or two 

 in advance of the average date, but. they < xt ended inland only as far 

 as Behar, with a moderate fall up to Allahabad. Further westward 

 there were occasional thunderstorms, but no heavy rain fell before 

 the 20th, nor in the Punjab before the 29th, and even then it was not 

 continuous. On the 2nd or 3rd July, in writing a summary of the 

 weather of the previous month, Mr. Dallas remarks : " In parts 

 of the North-Western Provinces and the Punjab continuous rain has 

 hardly yet set in." 



In Rajputana there was scarcely any rain in June, but the month 

 was decidedly cool ; and in Bombay and Gujarat also the tempera- 

 ture was below the average. In Bombay the monsoon did not set in 

 steadily before the 24th, and the rainfall was light throughout the 

 month. This coincidence of deficient rainfall, and a temperature 

 below the average, is unusual. 



During the first half of July rain was frequent and heavy on the 

 North-Western Himalaya ; but, according to my own observations at 

 Simla, this rainy period presented one or two noteworthy features. 

 In the first place, thunderstorms were repeated day after day ; and, 

 secondly, the rain was frequently accompanied with hail. These 

 accompaniments are characteristic of the storms that precede the 

 rains, and are exceptional in a rainy season of the normal character. 

 As far as my experience goes, they indicate an unsteady monsoon or 

 its approaching termination, and the existence of a dry current at no 

 great elevation above the rain clouds. Certain it is, that at frequent 

 intervals during this rainy period the existence of such a current was 

 rendered evident by the drift from the north-west of small broken 

 cloud tufts, or by the inclination and movement of the tops of the 

 rain clouds, when the lower current was from some southerly direc- 

 tion, generally up- valley. 



About the 19th July the rains ceased, except for occasional thunder- 

 storms, and from that time to the end of August this north-west 

 current held full sway, frequently down to the surface of the hills 

 (7,000 feet), bnt more generally perhaps 2,000 or 3,000 feet higher. This 

 same current prevailed also throughout the monsoon season of 1877, 

 and during the drought of August, 1880 ; and it is also characteristic 

 of the spring months. It appears to me to be the feeder of the 

 westerly and north-westerly winds (the land winds of North- Western 

 and Western India, as I shall presently explain more at length). 



On the plains of the Punjab (except in the eastern districts, 

 between the 6th and 18th July) there was no continuous rain, but 

 heavy falls, for the most part very local, occurred at intervals up to 

 the 19th. After this date, up to the end of August, save on two days, 

 there was no fall amounting to 1 inch in any part of the province ; 

 and the districts east and south of Ludhiana, and all to the west of 



