20 INTRODUCTION. 



summer night is 47 ; on a winter night, 31. The highest 

 temperature recorded in the sun during the years 1884 86 

 was 107 on Sept. 18th, 1884, though greater heat was expe- 

 rienced on August llth of the same year, when the thermometer 

 recorded 90 in the shade. 



Thunderstorms are not infrequent, though often confined 

 to certain water-sheds ; the tremor of the earthquake which 

 took place at 9-20 a.m., on April 22nd, 1884, at Colchester, was 

 distinctly perceptible. 



A comparison of the mean summer (July) and winter 

 (January) and annual temperatures (day and night combined) 

 with those of well-known places in Great Britain, and also 

 of Continental cities having the same latitude as Harleston, 

 will show the relative nature of its climate : 



Harleston ... 62= ... 38 3 ... 49 3 



London ... G3 ... 37 ... 51 



Land's End ... 64 ... 43 ... 54 



Edinburgh ... 59 ... 37 ... 47 



Amsterdam ... 63 ... 33 ... 47 



Berlin ... 66 ... 27 ... 48 



Warsaw 64 22 46 



From this calculation it will be seen that though the mean 

 annual temperature of Harleston is almost the same as that 

 of Berlin, yet the variation of the seasons is less marked ; 

 there is only 24 difference between summer and winter at 

 Harleston, as compared with 39 at Berlin. The cause is its 

 insular and quasi-littoral position ; but if we compare the 

 climate with that of an English inland town of the same 

 latitude, we find that, owing to the stiff soil, the absence of 

 forests and hills, and the prevalence of the east and north-east 

 winds during the early months of the year, the mean annual 

 temperature of Harleston is not above the British average for 

 the same latitude, notwithstanding its proximity to the mode- 

 rating influences of the sea. 



Rain, including snow, hail, and heavy mist, usually falls in 

 the district on a little under half the number of days in the 

 year, and to the comparatively small amount of 26-23 inches, 

 according to the highest average. The daily records are con- 

 sequently low, and the fall of 2 -21 inches on Sept. 4th, 1884, 

 was almost unprecedented, as very rarely an inch is attained 

 in one day. The annual fall in London is estimated, on the 

 highest average, at 27 inches ; in the higher tracts of Wales 

 it is over 100 inches; in the Cumberland Lake District over 

 140 inches ; and in the hills of north-eastern India the yearly 



