122 FORESTRY IN BRITISH EAST INDIA. 



parts of India ; it depends on the configuration of the countrv 

 and the extent to which the sea breezes succeed in overcoming and 

 pushing back the north-westerly dry air currents. The monsoon 

 currents enter the Bay of Bengal from the south-west and they 

 strike against the coast of Tenasserim in full force, rise and pour 

 out a copious rainfall. This holds good in a varying degree along 

 the coast of Burma, in Chittagong, Cachar and Assam. Along 

 this line the rain clouds meet with hill ranges at moderate dis- 

 tances from the shore, which cause them to rise, cool, and drop 

 their moisture, while the Lower Bengal plain receives a somewhat 

 smaller rainfall. After passing through Lower Bengal and on 

 approaching the Himalayan chain that mountain-range opposes 

 itself to the course of the current and divides it into two parts. 

 The larger part continues its north-easterly course and hits full 

 on the Garo, Khasi and Naga hills, producing the highest rainfall 

 in the world (over 400 inches at Cherrapunji), and finally giving 

 a considerable rainfall to the Assam valley. The smaller part of 

 the divided current is diverted towards the north-west and west^ 

 plentifully waters the face of the mountains and spreads a certain 

 amount of rain over the plains of Behar and the United Provinces. 



Lower Burma is plentifully watered, but a part of Upper Burma, 

 on both banks of the Irawadi, receives but a scanty rainfall ; the 

 latter increases again on approaching the hills in the northern part 

 of Burma. 



On the west coast of the Peninsula the monsoon blows directly 

 athwart the coast line. As the western part of the Peninsula 

 rises very rapidly from the sea to an elevation of up to 8,000 feet 

 at the Ghat range, the clouds are forced to rise, cool and drop an 

 enormous amount of rain. At the same time, the western edge 

 of the peninsular plateau is its highest part, and the clouds, or 

 what remains of them, having overcome this, descend again in 

 their north-easterly progress ; hence, the rainfall diminishes rapidly 

 on the eastern side of the Ghats to about one-sixth of that on the 

 western slopes. This extends over a strip of 100 to 200 miles in 

 breadth and comprises part of the Deccan, the Mysore table land 

 and the Carnatic, areas which are much subject to drought. 



Between the north-easterly course of the peninsular monsoon 

 and the westerly course of the wind which, diverted by the 

 Himalayas, moves up the Gangetic plain, lies a broad belt of 



