62 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [PART I. 



intervals ; and the evenings are embellished by sunsets 

 of the most gorgeous splendour, lighting the fragments 

 of clouds that survive the recent commotion. 



June. The extreme heat of the previous month 

 wind s.w. becomes modified in June : the winds 



Temperature, 24 hours: continue to blow steadily from the 



Mean greatest . 85-8 . , . J , 



Mean least . . 74-4 south-west, and frequent showers, ac- 

 Rain (inches) . . 6-8 com p arue( l by lightning and thunder, 

 serve still further to diffuse coolness throughout the 

 atmosphere and verdure over the earth. 



So instantaneous is the response of Nature to the 

 influence of returning moisture, that, in a single day, 

 and almost between sunset and dawn, the green hue of 

 reviving vegetation begins to tint the saturated ground. 

 In ponds, from which but a week before the wind 

 blew clouds of sandy dust, the peasantry may be seen 

 catching the re-animated fish ; and tank-shells and 

 water-beetles revive and wander over the submerged 

 sedges. The electricity of the air stimulates the vege- 

 tation of the trees ; and scarce a week elapses till 

 the plants become covered with the larvaB of butter- 

 flies, the forest murmurs with the hum of insects, 

 and the air is again harmonious with the voice of 

 birds. 



The extent to which the temperature is reduced, after 

 the first burst of the monsoon, is not to be appre- 

 ciated by the indications of the thermometer alone. It 

 is rendered still more sensible by the altered density of 

 the air, the drier state of which is favourable to eva- 

 poration, whilst the increase of its movement bring- 

 ing it more rapidly in contact with the human body, 

 heat is more readily carried off, and the sensation 

 of coolness is proportionally increased. Occasionally 

 during the month of June the westerly wind acquires 

 considerable strength, and sometimes amounts to a mode- 

 rate gale. At this period, the fishermen seldom put to 

 sea: their canoes are drawn far up in lines upon the 

 shore, and vessels riding in the roads of Colombo are 



