BAHAK ALLAHABAD. 201 



showers are fewer in number, and, though hea^y, of short 

 duration. The wind gets very variable. There are still 

 frequent storms of thunder and lightning ; but they gene- 

 rally pass off without producing rain. The days are yet 

 sultry ; but the mornings and evenings begin to grow cool ; 

 and the increasing clearness of the air, with the coming on 

 of dews at night, presage the speedy accession of the cold 

 season. x\t length the'veering round of the wind to the 

 ■west-north-west quarter, the disappearance of clouds and 

 vapours from the horizon, the sharpness and dryness of the 

 air, the rapid rise of the barometer and concomitant fall of 

 the thermometer, towards the end of the month, evince the 

 entire departure of the rains. The total quantity of rain 

 falling during the season varies much in different years. 

 In Bengal the average has been fixed at eighty inches. 



Baliar. — The seasons are nearly the same in "this pro%'ince 

 as in Bengal ; but as it is higher above the sea its climate 

 is in some respects superior. The nights are generally 

 much cooler ; but it is more subject to great drou'ghts and 

 heat, and to parching winds from the west during the warm 

 season. Tirhoot, the north-western quarter of this province, 

 is more elevated and healthier than the districts to the south. 

 On account of the soil and climate Bahar has been selected 

 by the British government as a proper country for the im- 

 provement of the breed of horses, the native race of the 

 Bengal province being of a diminutive size. A low and 

 marshy soil, it is remarked, seems everj'where uncongenial 

 to the horse ; for he appears to degenerate in such places 

 even when he lives and propagates. In districts in warm 

 climates which are more than usuaUy low and marshy the 

 horse generally experiences the fate of the Europeans ; he 

 either dies soon after he is brought to those places, or his 

 progeny seldom reach maturity. 



Allahabad. — That part of this province adjacent to the 

 Ganges and Jumna is low and verj' productive ; but its 

 western districts, particularly the Bundelcund territory, are 

 diversified with high hills. Between these two divisions 

 there is a considerable difference of climate, the former be- 

 ing sultry and subject to hot winds, from which the latter 

 is exempt. Benares, the principal military and civil sta- 

 tion, contains, according to the census of 1830, upwards of 

 200,000 inhabitants. The cantonments, which are exten- 



