RAINFALL 



149 



greater degree by the advent and cessation of the rainy 

 period. The year is therefore divided into two seasons, 

 roughly described as (1) that in which the conditions 

 are hot and dry, and (2) that in which they are cooler 

 and wet. The vegetation is so directly dependent upon 

 the timely appearance of the rainy season and its normal 

 distribution, that a failure of these conditions, even in 

 a comparatively small degree, may have serious conse- 

 quences and perhaps produce famine. In no part of British 

 West Africa is a shortage or irregularity of the rainfall 

 so severely felt, nor does it affect such a large number of 

 people, as in the northern districts. 



A table is given below showing the distribution of rain in 

 Zaria for five years, and of that in Kano for three years. 

 In each of these it will be seen that the fall in the year 

 1907 was far below the average, and that during the 

 most important months for the growth of the staple 

 grain crops July, August, and September there was 

 a severe shortage of rainfall. The effect of this in Kano 

 was to produce a condition of famine, which lasted for 

 about six weeks. In a congested locality, such as exists 

 in the vicinity of the town of Kano, the difficulty of 

 importing sufficiently large supplies to afford relief at 

 such a period was great, on account of lack of transport. 

 The chief crop in this year, namely Guinea corn, was an 

 almost complete failure in many places, but the millet 



TABLE SHOWING THE RAINFALL AT ZARIA FOB FIVE YEAES 

 (1905 TO 1909) 



