RAINFALL AND MOlStURE. ft 



instances of such irregular distribution and its consequences 

 I have given in a volume entitled Hydrology of South 

 Africa* 



Along the whole coast of Norway it is the autumn 

 which furnishes the greatest quantity of rain ; at Chris- 

 tiania it falls in the month of August. In the central part 

 of the country the rainfall is least in spring. 



The number of rainy days is generally proportionate to 

 the quantity of the rainfall. Still the rainy days are 

 relatively numerous in northern Norway, and likewise at 

 Christiania. On the Dovrefjeld the days of rain in the 

 course of the year are 90 ; on the coast of the Skager Rack 

 the number is from 90 to 1 00 ; at Bodoe, Tromso, and 

 Vardo, about 120 ; at Skudesnaes, at Christiania, on the 

 coast of the Romsdal, and of Heligoland, about 140; at 

 Bergen and in the fiords to the north of that town, and 

 also at Vesteraolen, about 160 ; at the Lofoden Islands, 

 180. Thus it appears that in the interior of the country 

 one day of rain in four may be counted on ; while at the 

 Lofoden Islands one day of rain in two, taking the whole 

 course of the year, may be reckoned on. 



Connected with this, there is another point deserving 

 attention. In point of fact, though it may not be gener- 

 ally remarked, the light is one of the important influences 

 promoting vegetation, as well as heat and moisture. And 

 the number of cloudy days is closely related to the num- 

 ber of days on which rain falls. 



It is found the effect of the so-called rainfall on the 



* Hydrology of South Africa ; or, details of the former Hydrographic condition of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and of causes of its present aridity, with suggestions of appro- 

 priate remedies for this aridity. In which the desiccation of South Africa, from pre- 

 Adanric times to the present day, is traced by indications supplied by geological forma- 

 tions, by the physical geography or general contour of the country, and by arborescent 

 productions in the interior, with results confirmatory of the opinion that the appropriate 

 remedies are irrigation, arboriculture, and an improved forest economy ; or the erection 

 of dams to prevent the escape of a portion of the rainfall to the sea, the abandonment 

 or restriction of the burning of the herbage and bush in connection with pastoral and 

 agricultural operations, the conservation and extension of existing forests, and the 

 adoption of measures similar to the reboisement and gazonnernent 'Carried out in 

 France, with a view to prevent the formation of torrents and the destruction of property 

 occasioned by them. London : Henry S. King & Co. 1375. 



