CHAP. II.] CLIMATE. 57 



tity of moisture, moderate in amount, yet still leaving 

 the great mass of air far below saturation. Hence it 

 reaches Ceylon comparatively dry, and its general effects 

 are parching and disagreeable. This character is in- 

 creased as the sun recedes towards its most southern 

 declination, and the wind acquires a more direct draught 

 from the north; passing over the Indian peninsula and 

 becoming almost divested of humidity, it blows down the 

 western coastTof the island, and is known there by the 

 name of the "along-shore-wind." For a tune its influence 

 is uncomfortable and its effects injurious alike to health 

 and to vegetation : it warps and rends furniture, dries up 

 the surface of the earth, and withers the delicate verdure 

 which had sprung up during the prevalence of the pre- 

 vious rains. These characteristics, however, subside 

 towards the end of the month, when the wind becomes 

 somewhat variable with a westerly tendency and occa- 

 sional showers ; and the heat of the day is then partially 

 compensated by the greater freshness of the nights. The 

 fall of rain within the month scarcely exceeds three inches. 

 February is dry and hot during the day, but the nights 

 Wind N E are cloudless and cool, and the moon- 



e, 24 hours : light singularly agreeable. Eain is 



Mean greatest .89 , J . G . . 



Mean least . .7i rare, but when it occurs it falls in 

 Kain (inches) . . 2-i fafo^ succee ded by damp and sultry 

 calms. The wind is unsteady and shifts from north-east 

 to north-west, sometimes failing entirely between noon and 

 twilight. The quantity of rain is less than in January, 

 and the difference of temperature between day and night 

 is frequently so great as 15 or 20 . 1 



Dr. MACVICAB, in a paper in the and under the open sky, on the 2nd of 



Ceylon Miscellany, July, 1843, 

 corded the results of some experi- 

 ments, made near Colombo, as to the 

 daily variation of temperature and 

 its effects on cultivation, from which 

 it appeared that a register thermo- 

 meter, exposed on a tuft of grass in 

 the cinnamon garden in a clear night 



January, 1841, showed in the morn- 

 ing that it had been so low as 52 

 Fahr., and when laid on the ground in 

 the same place in the sunshine on the 

 following day, it rose to upwards of 

 140. These were results of direct, 

 and unimpeded radiation. 



