18 Mr. H. F. Bianford. On the Connexion of the [May 1, 



Bellary and Hyderabad plateau, which speedily extends to the 

 eastern half of the Central Provinces, Chutia, Nagpur, and the 

 Gangetic plain, the winds, in accordance with the law of cyclonic cir- 

 culation, become northerly or north-westerly in the Deccan, and the 

 western half of the Central Provinces and Central India, and almost 

 due west on the plateau south of the Ganges and Jamna, and on the 

 plain along the course of those rivers. On the other hand, in accord- 

 ance with the same cyclonic law, the winds of the east coast and 

 maritime plains of the peninsula and Bengal are chiefly from south ; 

 and as the season advances, the current from the sea creeps up the 

 northern margin of the Gangetic plain as a south-east wind under 

 the lee of the hills and intermittently sweeping the crests of the 

 outer Himalaya. 



This distribution of the winds explains that of the spring rains, 

 which fall, chiefly in thunderstorms, on the southern and eastern 

 districts of the peninsula and in Bengal ; whereas, westward from 

 Nagpur,, in the Deccan, Berar, Khandesh, Gujarat, and even the 

 Konkan, Katywar, and Cutch, indeed the whole of Western India, 

 southwards to Belgaum and northwards to the confines of the 

 Punjab, the season from November to May is practically rainless. 

 This latter is the realm of the dry land winds, or, as regards the 

 coast, northerly long-shore winds ; this being the local phase of the 

 general current, and equally unfavourable to precipitation. 



To one portion of this region, viz., Sind, Cutch, Katywar, and the 

 adjoining portion of Western Rajputana, the above description of the 

 winds is applicable only with some modification. In this part of 

 Western India, north-east is the prevailing direction from November 

 to February, and in the subsequent months south-west winds are 

 frequent even if they do not preponderate. But these latter bring no 

 rain. They appear to be an indraught from the coast, and as they 

 penetrate the country they coalesce with the general stream and 

 contribute their quota to the dry winds of Eastern Rajputana and 

 Gujarat. They become merged and lost in the prevailing current. 



The question then presents itself, " What is the origin of the dry 

 westerly current ? The supposition that the indraught from the 

 south-west furnishes more than a small portion of the stream is at 

 once negatived by the fact that, even at Kurrachee and Bhuj, 

 southerly winds do not preponderate over northerly until May, and 

 even then almost inappreciably ; at Rajkot, not before June ; and 

 the very fact of the great dryness of the west and north-west winds 

 militates against the idea that any considerable portion of their air 

 mass can be drawn from the sea. Neither is it derived to any con- 

 siderable extent from the valleys and lower slopes of the surrounding 

 hills. There is no permanent drainage of air from these hill slopes, 

 and strong winds blowing outwards from the longer valleys, like the 



