RAIN POPULATION. 11 



with game ; even now, hares, partridges, and pheasants abound ; 

 and in old days woodcocks were as plentiful. There are few 

 quails, because they more affect open fields than enclosures. 

 After harvest, some few land-rails are seen. 



The parish of Selborne, by taking in so much of the forest, 

 is a vast district. Those who tread the bounds are employed 

 part of three days in the business, and are of opinion that the 

 outline, in all its curves and indentings, does not comprise 

 less than thirty miles. 



The village stands in a sheltered spot, secured by the Hanger 

 from the strong westerly winds. The air is soft, but rather 

 moist, from the effluvia of so many trees ; yet perfectly healthy 

 and free from agues. 



The quantity of rain that falls on it is very considerable, as 

 may be supposed in so woody and mountainous a district. As 

 my experience in measuring the water is but of short date, I 

 am not qualified to give the mean quantity.* I only know 

 that, 



Inch. Hund. 



From May 1, 1779, to the end of the year, there fell . . 28 37 ! 



From January 1 1780, to January 1/1781 ... 27 32 



From January 1 1781, to January 1, 1782 . . . 30 71 



From January 1 1782, to January 1, J 783 . . . 50 26 ! 



From January 1 1783, to January 1, 1784 . . . 33 71 



From January 1 1784, to January 1, 1785 . 33 80 



From January 1 1785, to January 1, 1786 . . . 31 55 



From January 1 1786, to January 1, 1787 . . . 39 57 



The village of Selborne, and large hamlet of Oakhanger, 

 with the single farms, and many scattered houses along the 

 verge of the forest, contain upwards of six hundred and seventy 

 inhabitants. 



We abound with poor, many of whom are sober and 

 industrious, and live comfortably, in good stone or brick 

 cottages, which are glazed, and have chambers above stairs : 

 mud buildings we have none. Besides the employment from 

 husbandry, the men work in hop gardens, of which we have 

 many, and fell and bark timber. In the spring and summer 



* A very intelligent gentleman assures me, (and he speaks from 

 upwards of forty years' experience,) that the mean rain of any place 

 cannot be ascertained till a person has measured it for a very long period. 

 " If I had only measured the rain," says he, " for the four first years, 

 from 1740 to 1743, I should have said the mean rain at Lyndon was 

 J6/-2 inches for the year ; if from 1740 to 1750, 18^ inches. "The mean 

 rain before 1763, was 20 M ; from 1763 and since, 25% ; from 1770 to 

 1780, 26. If only 1773, 1774, and 1775, had been measured, Lyndon 

 mean rain would have been called 32 inches, increasing from 16.6 to 32. " 



