CiiAP. ir.] 



CLIMATE. 



tity of moisture, moderate in amount, yet still leavino- 

 the great mass of air far below saturation. Hence it 

 reaches Ceylon comparatively dry, and its general effects 

 are parching and disagreeable. This character is in- 

 creased as the sun recedes towards its most southern 

 dechnation, and the wind acquires a more direct draught 

 from the north; passing over the Indian peninsula and 

 ahnost totally divested of humidity, it blows down the 

 western coast of the island, and is known there by the 

 name of the "along-shore-wind." For a time its influence 

 is uncomfortable and its effects injurious both to health 

 and vegetation : it warps and rends furniture, dries up 

 the surface of the earth, and mthers the dehcate verdure 

 wliich had sprung up during the prevalence of the pre- 

 vious rains. These characteristics, however, subside 

 towards the end of the month, when the wind becomes 

 somewhat variable with a westerly tendency and occa- 

 sional showers ; and the heat of the day is then partially 

 compensated by the greater freshness of the nights. 

 The fall of rain within the month scarcely exceeds three 

 inches. 



February is dry and hot dming the day, but the nights 

 are cloudless and cool, and the moon- 

 light singularly agreeable. Eain is 

 rare, and when it occm^s it falls in 

 dashes, succeeded by damp and sultry 

 calms. The Avind is unsteady and shifts from north-east 

 to north-west, sometimes faihng entu'ely between noon and 

 twihght. The quantity of rain is less than in January, 

 and the difference of temperature between day and night 

 is frequently as great as 15° or 20°.^ 



Wind KE. 



Temperature, 24 houi's : 

 Mean greatest . 89° 

 Mean least . .71° 



Ilain (inches) . . 2'1 



' Dr. Macvicae, in a paper in the 

 Ceylon Miscellamj , July, 1843, re- 

 corded tlie results of some experi- 

 ments, made near Colombo, as to the 

 daily variation of temperature and 

 its effects on cultivation, from wliich 

 it appeared that a register thermo- 

 meter, exposed on a tuft of grass in 



the cinnamon garden in a clear night 

 and under the open sky, on the 2nd of 

 Januaiy, 1841, showed in the morn- 

 ing that it had been so low as 52°, 

 and when laid on the gToimd in the 

 same place in the smisliine on the 

 following day, it rose to upwards of 

 140° Fahr. 



