374 Professor OlmsiaVs Ihrply to Dr. Christie. 



peralure, that their sudden mixture could not possibly produce conge- 

 lation, biit merely clouds and rain, thunder and lightning ; and, says the 

 Professor, "in this region we know not where to look for the freezing 

 current, unless we ascend so high that there no hot air exists holding 

 watery vapor to be frozen by it." He therefore supposes that violent 

 hailstorms are unknown in the torrid zone, excepting in one situation, 

 viz. in the vicinity of lofty mountains covered with snow. Here, 

 however, he is mistaken, hailstorms being by no means uncommon in 

 different parts of the peninsula of India, and consequently at a dis- 

 tance of many hundred miles from any lofty mountains.* 



We are told, in Rees' Cyclopedia, that hailstorms never occur in 

 the torrid zone ; and in the Edinburgh Encj'^clopaedia, under the article 

 Physical Geography, that they never occur there, except at an eleva- 

 tion of not less than one thousand five hundred or two thousand feet. 

 This, I will show, is by no means the case. In May 1823, a violent 

 hailstorm occurred at Hydrabad, which is about 17 degrees north 

 latitude, and has an elevation (I believe) of not more than one thousand 

 feet above the level of the sea. The hailstones were of a considera- 

 ble size, and a sufficient quantity was collected by the servants of a 

 military mess to cool the wine for several days. A hailstorm occur- 

 red at Darwar, north latitude 16° 28', east longitude 75° 11', in May 

 or June 1825. The height of Darwar above the level of the sea is 

 two thousand four hundred feet, but it is near no high range of moun- 

 tains. The hailstones had a white porous nucleus, and varied in size 

 from that of a filbert to that of a pigeon's egg. A similar storm oc- 

 curred at the same place, and about the same season, in 1826. These 

 are the only instances of hailstorms which came under my own ob- 

 servation during the five years I was in India; but numerous others 

 might be brought forward from the testimony of others. I shall only 

 mention a few. Lieutenant Colonel Bowler, of. the Madras array, 

 tells me that he witnessed a violent storm of hail at Trichinopoly, 

 about the middje of the year 1805, when the hail stones were nearly 

 as large as walnuts. He also mentions a very violent hailstorm v/hich 

 occurred in Goomsa Valley, about twenty five mrles west of Gamjam, 

 and only a few feet above the level of the sea, when he was in camp there 

 about the end of April 1817. It commenced about half past three in 

 the afternoon. The weather had previously been very sultry, with 

 hot blasts of wind, and heavy clouds, which appeared almost to touch 



* The highest mountains in the peninsula of India are the Neelgherries, a 

 small group, situated between the tenth and eleventh degrees of north latitude, and 

 having a height of little more than eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, 

 being not more than one half of that which the snow line would have in this situ- 

 ation. 



