INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



XXXV 



tion, is by any means regular. The quantity of rain which falls 

 during the year varies considerably. In what are called favour- 

 able years, the total quantity may be from 25 to 30 inches : and 

 sometimes more. Even in an unfavourable year, 1811, I found 

 the fall of rain was 22.4 inches : which is rather more than the 

 average in London. 



From the 22d February, 1811, when the summer rains began, 

 until the day of my departure from the island, on the 1st Sep- 

 tember 1813, I kept an exact diary of the fall of rain ; which 

 was continued by Mr. Jennings, the Company's gardener, to 1815. 

 The rain was measured in an accurate rain-gauge, sent from 

 England, by Sir Joseph Banks : the following were the results "• 



1811 - - 22.40 inches 



1812 - - - 29.04 



1813 - - 32.13 



1814 - - _ 49.96* 



* Abstract of the Monthly fall of Rain, at Plantation House, during the years 1812, 



1813, 1814, and part of \B\5. 



