114 



NATURE 



[June 3, 1897 



the south-east trades at present deficient in energy? The south- 

 west monsoon in India is held to be an extension of the south- 

 east trades. After what has happened in South Africa it will be 

 interesting to note the character of the coining monsoon in 

 India, There are two indications pointing to the failure of the 

 coming Indian monsoon (in 1896). 



'* (i) The failure of the south-east rains in South Africa. 



" (2) The cyclical variation of weather in South Africa." 



Mr. Hutchins' anticipations were unfortunately fully verified, 

 and confirm the probability of the relation between the varying 

 strength of the south-east trades and the monsoon rainfall of 

 India. 



I have recently had my attention called, by Captain Froud, 

 Secretary to the Shipmasters' Society, to the presence in large 

 numbers of icebergs in the Antarctic Ocean, much further 

 north than usual, off the Cape Colony coast, to such an extent, 

 in fact, as to be dangerous to steamers following the "safety 

 track" from London to New Zealand, adopted by several 

 English steamer lines. One vessel met with icebergs as far 

 north as lat. 35° N. , and numbers, said to be from 400 to 600 

 feet above water, have been encountered by steamers during 

 the past eighteen months, at least, in lat. 42° to 45° S. , to the 

 south, south-east and south-west of the Cape. The following 

 give extracts from the log of the s. s. Thermopylce : — 



formerly, thereby increasing the risk of the southern passage 

 to Australia." 



Mr. AUingham, of the English Meteorological Office, has 

 kindly suppliedjme with a summary, tabulated below, of the data he 

 has collected, indicating the abnormal number and northward 

 extension of icebergs in the south-east of the Indian Ocean 

 during the past two years. 



The following summarises the chief features of the remarkable 

 cyclonic variation of rainfall in India during the past five years, 

 and which culminated in partial failure of the crops and scarcity 

 over so wide an area in 1896 : — 



1896. 

 September 22 



23 



Lat. S. 



45° 



46° 



Long. E. 

 .. 49' . 



70 



26 ... 46i° ... 75° 



Passed iceberg \ mile 

 long and 640 feet high. 



Very large icebergs, with 

 perpendicular sides and 

 flat top, % mile long and 

 400 feet high. 



Passed two large icebergs 

 and many small pieces. 



Several large icebergs 

 seen. 



Last iceberg seen. 



If single stations, in the province most largely affected by the 

 abnormal condition of the period, were selected, the contrast 

 between the excess in the years 1892-94 and the deficiency of 

 the years 1895-96 is very marked. The table at the top of 

 p. 115 gives data of total rainfall of period June to October at 

 one station in the Central Provinces, one in the North-western 

 Provinces, and one in Bihar, in illustration of this. 



At Allahabad, the headquarters of the Government of the 

 North-western Provinces, the area most seriously affected, the 

 total rainfall in 1894 was practically double the normal, and in 

 1896 barely half of the normal. 



The captain adds that measurements were carefully taken by j 

 the sextant when the icebergs were suitably situated near the 

 track of the vessel. I 



The captain of the s.s. Port Melbourn, in a letter dated I 

 London, February 11, 1897, writes: "On our passage out last ■ 

 voyage to Albany (Western Australia), we encountered a number | 

 of large icebergs (about forty-five in all) and a quantity of smaller 

 pieces of ice. between lat. 44° S. and 45" S. and long. 49° 

 E. and 70° E. The larger icebergs ranged from \ mile to 2 miles 

 in length and from 300 feet to 820 feet in height (as measured by 

 the sextant). It is very evident that ice in the Southern Indian 

 Ocean now appears to work its way further north than 



NO. 1440, VOL. 56] 



The data hence show that there was a strongly marked 

 cyclical variation of the rainfall of India in this period, the 

 maximum of which was 1893, ^""^ the minimum (probably) in 

 1896. In the year of maximum rainfall (1893), the south-west 

 monsoon commenced early and withdrew much later than usual, 

 and gave excessive rain throughout the whole period of its 

 prevalence, whilst that of 1896, the year of minimum rainfall, 

 commenced late, withdrew early, and gave scanty and very 

 deficient rain throughout the whole period. The marked 

 contrast between the two years was, it may be noted, not 

 restricted to the south-west monsoon. In 1893 and 1894 the 

 rainfall was above the normal in each of the four seasons into 



