HAIL. 183 



plentifully in Upper Sinde, where these rains, though not 

 heavy, are the principal ones in the year. 



By the beginning of October, when the south-west moi> 

 soon or rainy season is nearly at an end, the change gradu- 

 ally takes place from the south-west to the north-east mon- 

 soon. This monsoon is attended with dry weather through- 

 out the peninsula, excepting on its eastern side on the coast 

 of Coromandel. On this coast the north-east monsoon 

 brings the periodical rains, which begin about the middle 

 of October, and end generally about the middle of Decem- 

 ber. From December to the beginning of March this mon- 

 soon continues, but is now a dry wind. The weather is at 

 this season cool and agreeable. The north-east winds cease 

 about the end of February or beginning of March, and 

 from this period to the beginning of June, the winds are 

 irregular and the heat great all over the peninsula. The 

 winds are chiefly from the south at this time in the Bay of 

 Bengal and on its shores, and are hot, moist, and relaxing. 

 About the end of May or beginning of June, as already re- 

 marked, the south-west monsoon begins, and is attended 

 with the periodical rains in all parts of the peninsula ex- 

 cepting the Coromandel coast, which then suffers gr.eatly 

 from heat and drought. 



13. Hail. — In India hail falls only daring the hottest sea- 

 sons of the year, frequently in pieces the weight of half an 

 ounce, and is accompanied by heavy thunder and storms or 

 gusts of wind. In the peninsula, showers are more fre- 

 quent in the country above the Ghauts than in that below 

 them. The natives call the hail rainx/oncs, and ascribe to 

 it invigorating virtues. Although none of the mountains in 

 Peninsular India reach the snow-line, and frozen water 

 rarely appears there otherwise than in the form of hail, 

 snow being unknown in Southern India, yet some writers 

 maintain that hail-storms never occur in the torrid zone, 

 while others affirm that they never appear there except at 

 an elevation of not less than 1500 or :2000 feet above the 

 sea. This statement, however, is far from being correct ; 

 for although hail-storms are not so common and destructive 

 in India as in the south of Europe, — the grand region of 

 these stonns, — still they do frequently happen, even at the 

 level of the sea. In May, 1823, a violent hail-storm oc- 

 curred at Hydrabad, which is about 17° north latitude, at an 



