C 8 ) 



This Boaroity of spouting springs all over the Yomah hills has struck mo much. On the 

 other side, pools of water were observed by me as late as towards the end of Marcli, in the 

 beds of ohoungs in the driest parts of the Prome district (on compact impermeable sand- 

 stone), while on permeable strata such would have been searched for in vain, owing to the 

 permeability of the substrata. 



3. Climatological notes on Pegu* 



It should be kept in mind, in perusing the following very incomplete sketch of the cli- 

 mate of Pegu, that both seasons (1863-69 and 1870-71) in which I travelled wore described 

 to me as unusually hot ones. I was also unable to make hygrometrical observations, as the 

 only hygrometer I had with me went to pieces on the back of my elephant on the very 

 day I started. I must speak, therefore, about such matters only empirically. Nor can I 

 make proper use of my thormometrical observations, extending only over a few (chiefly the 

 hot) months, while travelling in a hilly country, where the results necessarily must be of a 

 very problematical and varied character. 



The chief topics, in climatology, at least to a forester, are always 



(1). The temperature. 



(2). The degree of moisture. 



(3). The winds. 



There are, besides, many other minor points to be observed, many of which, however, 

 such as temperature of soil, become really importantf only in liigher latitudes. In the fol- 

 lowing sketch I shall not discuss such matters separately and fully, as the material before me 

 is too incomplete to enable me to do so. 



In a tropical climate like that of Burma, the first question is always, whether the coun- 

 try enjoys an equable climate (like many of the islands of the Malay Archipelago) with rains 

 and dew all the year round, or whether the year is divided into a dry season and a rainy 

 season. The latter is the case with Burma. 



It is then chiefly the hot dry season, which in Pegu, as everywhere else in tropical coun- 

 tries more particularly afl'ects the vegetation, regulates its growth and calls into existence 

 the large tracts of deciduous forests. The rainy season is, comparatively, of less importance 

 in the consideration of a tropical flora (Desert floras excepted) for although a great number of 

 xerof>hiIous plants necessarily must disappear, a far greater number of hygrophilous plants will 

 replace them (as is the ease in the Martaban hills, when compared with the flora of the Pegu 

 Yomah). 



The seasons of Pegu are similar to those of Lower Bengal, but the co/(^ season is of shorter 

 duration, and the dri/ hot, and often also the rainy, season commences a month earlier than in 

 Calcutta. 



The dry season, divided into a cold and hot one, extends about from December to April, 

 over a period of four to five months. The cold season terminates ordinarily about the end of 

 Februar}', sometimes somewhat earlier, and often rather abruptly. Tlie hot season comprises 

 the mouths of March and April, during wliich time (usually in March) one or two heavy 

 thunder-storms moderate the intense heat, until in tlie first half of May the regular monsoon 

 rains set in, which cease more or less completely during November. The above is nearly the 

 regular course of the seasons. 



The thermometer rarely rises above 88 in the shade during the cold season, and often 

 sinks as low as 67, occasionally to 55 or 54, before sunrise. Heavy dew is the rule, and 

 fogs are often troublesome in the morning hours. During the remainder of the day, the sky 

 is tolerably clear and serene. Rains are almost unknown in the cold season, and the hygro- 

 metrical state of the atmosphere is apparently the same as in Bengal. 



In the hot season, the thermometer rapidly rises to 95 to 100 in the shade, but the 

 nights still remain cool and agreeable ; for even at the height of the season in the hottest 

 province of the country (Prome), the thermometer never indicated to me more than 74 before 

 sunrise. The deposit of dew is hardly perceptible, and the atmosphere is nearly as dry as 

 that of Lower Bengal, with the difference that here the sky is very hazy nearly all the day, 

 while in Behar and Bengal it is tolerably clear. The first shower, usually a very heavy one, 

 occurs in March, and thunder-storms, prognosticating the commencement of the rainy season, 

 usually break at the end of April or during the first days of May. 



Although I am expecting a series of thermometrical and hygrometrical observations at vaiious stations in 

 Pegu, whicl) Captain W. J. Seaton, Conservator of Forests, British Burma, is kind enough to endeavour to pro- 

 cure for me, I have not thought it advisahle to delay the submission of this report, ready since August 1871, for an 

 uncertain period. 



t In expressing myself thus, I do not imply that a lower subterranean temperature might not effect changes 

 in the tropical vegetation as interesting as those produced by a higher temperature of the soil in temperate lati- 

 tudes, or vice versa. 



