50 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX 



meantime, the two separate sub-regions of the Andaman and Nicobar 

 Islands. Northern Burma extends for 500 miles in a north-eastern 

 direction from the great bend of the Brahmaputra in Bengal to the 

 Chinese Province of Yunnan. The range of mountains flanking the 

 Assam valley on the south forms its northern boundary. It belongs 

 politically to Assam and comprises the districts known as the Garo, 

 Khasya, Jaintia, Nowgong, Naga, Patkai, and Manipur Hills. They 

 rise, on the average, to 4,000 to 5,000 feet, a few peaks even above 

 10,000. Blanford's description of the climate of Shillong gives on 

 the whole a fair idea of the meteorological condition of this sub- 

 region. " This station is situated on a gently undulating tableland, 

 4,800 feet above the sea-level, immediately north of the culminating 

 ridge of the Khasi hills, and about midway between the valley of 

 Assam and the plains of Sylhet. . . On the average of the 4 years, 

 1869-1872, the mean temperature of Shillong was 62°, which is 

 about the same as that of Constantinople, Barcelona, and Oran ; in 

 fact of an average Mediterranean climate. In the warmest months, 

 June to August, it is below 70°, and in April and May intermediate 

 between the two, since in the Khasi Hills rain is so frequent in the 

 spring months that the temperature does not rise to a maximum in 

 May, and suffers no abatement when the monsoon rains set in in June. 

 The lowest reading recorded was just above the freezing point ; the 

 average minimum of the 4 years 34°, and the mean temperature of 

 December and January 51°. In December and January, the most 

 serene months of the year, the mean difference of the early morning 

 and afternoon temperatures is 19° or 20°. While in respect of tem- 

 perature, the climate of Shillong much resembles that of places in the 

 south of Europe, in the dampness of its atmosphere and its rainfall it 

 is eminently tropical. In the driest month, March, the humidity is 

 indeed only 59 per cent, of saturation, but from July to October 

 inclusive it ranges between 86 and 89, and from June to September, 

 on an average, eight-tenths or more of the sky is clouded. In April 

 it rains on one day in three, in May on two days out of three, and in 

 the four succeeding months even more frequently. On the average 

 of 18 years there have been 150 rainy days in the year. The average 

 rain-fall of the year hardly exceeds 85 inches." 1 



1 Elanford, Climates and Weather of India, p. 112. 



