14 HAPPY INDIA 



Kirthar range on the west. These, with the deserts 

 of Tartary, Persia, Afghanistan and Baluchistan, 

 constitute -.a almost impassable natural defence, 

 and on the east mountains separate Burmah from 

 China.' A ppweiful military force in India could 

 easily hold its own against any invader who came 

 by land. 



As regards climate, a traveller can in the winter 

 find cold of great severity, if he goes into the 

 northern mountains. In the summer time he can 

 in Sind at Jacobobad and similar places find a 

 temperature as hot, if not hotter, than any other 

 place in the world. But the greater part of India 

 is not subject to these great extremes of tempera- 

 ture, and on the Malabar coast on the south-west of 

 the Peninsula the average monthly temperature in 

 January, the coldest month, is only 6 degrees below 

 the average monthly temperature of May, the hottest 

 month. The average monthly temperature in January 

 is 78 degrees, and in May is about 83 degrees, so 

 that for purposes of warmth it is seldom necessary 

 to wear clothes. As to Jacobobad on the west of 

 the Indus, the average temperature in January is 

 about 57 degrees and in June about 97, a difference 

 of 40 degrees. Those are the average monthly 

 temperatures, but the extremes, of course, are far 

 greater say from 30 degrees or less in January 

 to 125 degrees in June, a difference of 95 degrees. 

 There are also great differences in the rainfall. 

 In Baluchistan, in Sind and Rajputana in some 

 parts there are only 4 inches of rain in a year, some 



