British Association for the Advancement of Science. 275 
mean temperature of the year. With regard to the quantity of rain, 
the clouds, containing the water drawn from the ocean by the action 
of the sun, beat against the Ghauts, and the rain which falls there is 
fourfold the proportion of that which falls 30 or 40 miles to the 
eastward. At Poonah, which is only 50 miles east, the annual fall 
of rain is only 25 inches, whilst in Bombay it is 100. Hail falls 
only at the very hottest season, with the temperature from 95 to 
100. The air is perfectly clear ;—suddenly the horizon is over- 
cast, the dust is blown up in dense masses, with occasional violent 
claps of thunder, and showers of large hailstones. Dews are very 
copious,—fogs little known. The climate is very salubrious. In 
his (Col. Sykes’s) camp, consisting of 100 persons, not a single 
death occurred in six years, and there was only one case of sickness 
which he did not cure without medical aid. In 1828, the deaths 
were 1.82 per cent., or one in 55 persons, not including cholera, or 
one in 40 including cholera, so that even in India, where this fright- 
ful disease originated, it appears to be much less serious than was 
supposed. Dr. Lawrence, the medical attendant at Bombay, had 
charge of 1000 natives for several years, and lost only 0.85 per 
cent., or less than one per cent. per annum. 
Agriculture, though rudely carried on, is very productive; there 
are forty five cultivated fruits, including six or seven species of the 
grape, and twenty two wild fruits, including the mangosteen, the 
date, &c. &c. There are two harvests in the Deccan, one at the 
hot and wet season, the other at the cold or dry season, and both of 
distinct kinds of grain or pulse—the harvest at the wet season is 
principally of rice, which is produced chiefly in the hilly country. 
The productiveness of some of the grains is perfectly astonishing. 
Four species were mentioned—one producing 33 stalks, and 61,380 
grains from one seed; another, 1,690; a third, 2,985; anda fourth, 
1,850. One species of wheat, taken out of a field at random, and 
now in his possession, contained 25 stalks, and 1,450 grains, the 
average on tolerable land being 8 stalks to each plant. Besides 
this, there are corn, barley, peas, and sugar cane. ‘There are 46 
articles of garden culture. Edible fruits are numerous, and many 
wild plants and flowers are used as greens. Col. Sykes stated that 
the natives are quite as carnivorous as the inhabitants of Europe, so 
far, at least, as mutton is concerned. . The grasses are innumerable, 
some of them useful for cordage. The inhabitants make no hay, 
but allow the grass to remain on the ground till dry, when they cut 
