54 INTENSITY OF TROPICAL RAINS. 



Before entering upon the question of the climatic zones r 

 however, we think it desirable to open the subject with 

 a survey of the leading features of climates, as these 

 are exhibited to travellers proceeding from Europe to 

 tropical and other distant lands. 



We shall also endeavour to describe the extraor- 

 dinary nature and intensity of some of the atmospheric 

 disturbances by which these regions are visited, of 

 which dwellers at home can form but a very faint and 

 imperfect idea : for though the climate of Great Britain 

 is variable and uncertain, it is in general free from 

 the exceeding violence of the rains, hurricanes, and 

 other storms, to which many foreign lands are subject. 

 It is highly desirable that all travellers should possess at 

 least a good general idea of these phenomena before 

 visiting such countries, as there is great art in laying 

 out an extended tour judiciously, so as to take the best 

 advantage of the proper seasons for visiting the dif- 

 ferent climates included in the programme, and thus 

 seeing them under the best and most agreeable conditions. 

 In these days, when such numbers of persons make 

 extended trips about the world, these matters assume a 

 constantly growing importance as there is a healthy, 

 as well as an unhealthy season, in many of these coun- 

 tries. There can be no doubt that in former days 

 many travellers fell victims to the effects of climate, 

 either from visiting unhealthy places during the sickly 

 season, or because they were unacquainted with the 

 proper means of preserving health in such localities. 



The extraordinary ignorance that prevailed in former 

 times upon these subjects, even among otherwise highly 

 educated men, can scarcely be conceived in these 

 comparatively enlightened days, though we unquestion- 



