GENERAL VIEW. GEOGRAPHY. 4 



Three modifications of the tropical heat : viz,, the CHAP. 



table land, the sea, and the two monsoons. The whole 



of the Madras Presidency is situated within the tropics, 

 between the eighth and twentieth degree of north latitude. 

 The entire territory therefore is subject to great heat, 

 and this is especially the case in localities which are 

 unrelieved by moisture. But the elevation of the table 

 land in the centre, the vicinity of the plains to the sea, 

 and above all the influence of the two monsoons, very 

 much modify the burning heat of the sun. 



North-East monsoon, October to April: South- 7 

 West monsoon, May to September, The mani- 

 festations of the monsoons are so unlike anything that 

 is experienced in the British isles, and at the same 

 time they exercise such an important influence on every 

 kind of cultivation in India, that perhaps a short descrip- 

 tion may not be misplaced. The monsoons are periodi- 

 cal winds, which about the time of their first setting in bring 

 heavy burst of rain. One sets in from the N orth-East about 

 October, and blows more or less steadily for six months. The 

 other sets in from the South- West about April, and blows 

 until the North-East begins. Thus the broad plain of the Car- 

 natic enjoys the influence of the North-East monsoon ; the 

 narrow strip of Malabar and Canara is favoured by the 

 South- West monsoon ; whilst certain portions of the table 

 land between them enjoy a partial benefit from both mon- 

 soons. Each of these monsoons brings a supply of rain. . The 

 North-East brings less water than the other, but then its 

 influence is more generally felt, as the Eastern Ghauts are 

 not sufficiently elevated to shut it out from the central table 

 land. Not so however with the South- West monsoon. 

 That comes laden with a mass of waters from the Southern 

 ocean, and pours a heavy torrent of rain upon the Western 

 Ghauts ; but its influence is more or less shut out from the 



