2 CLIMATE AND RESOURCES OF 



country between the Ganges and the Jumna, may be about 

 twenty -four inches, a greater precipitation occurring in those 

 districts nearer the hills. There is also a greater rainfall in 

 Oude and Rohilcund, lying north of the Ganges, than in the 

 Dooab. The least rainfall is about Mooltan, in the Punjab, 

 where sometimes not more than five or six inches fall in the 

 year. 



For a month after the cessation of the rains the atmosphere 

 is clear, and there is a bright hot sun, which quickly dries 

 up much of the moisture left in the surface-soil, which was 

 deposited in the rains. 



About the commencement of November the cold weather 

 may be considered to set in, when the plains of Upper India 

 are favoured with about four months of clear, braciug weather, 

 with often sharp frosts in the mornings, particularly pleasant 

 and well suited to Europeans; but these frosts, which are 

 more severe and frequent than formerly, are injurious to the 

 country agriculturally ; as various food-plants, particularly the 

 arhar, are now more frequently killed by the frost than was 

 formerly the case. The usual winds during the cold weather, 

 i.e. from November to the end of February, are west, or from 

 a few points north of west ; and east winds are rare, except 

 with a cloudy sky. It is generally said, the east winds in 

 Upper India bring clouds ; but it seems doubtful whether the 

 clouds are the effect or the cause of the east winds. To this 

 I will hereafter refer. 



During the cold weather some rain generally falls, mostly 

 in the months of December and January ; the average cold- 

 weather rainfall being from two to four or five inches, more 

 usually falling in the Punjab, and to the west, than in the 

 eastern parts of Upper India. 



In the more southern parts the cold-weather crops sown 

 in October and November are harvested; and in the more 



