CLIMATE AND PREVALENT WINDS 209 





Max. 



MiN. 





Max. 



MiN. 



Jan. 



30-091 ins. 



29-921 ins. 



Feb. 



. 30-091 ins. 



29-935 ins 



March 



30 062 ,, 



29-627 „ 



April 



. 30097 „ 



29-707 „ 



May. 



30-092 „ 



29-973 „ 



June 



. 30-097 „ 



29-955 „ 



July. 



30-102 „ 



29-916 „ 



Aug. 



30-136 „ 



29-983 „ 



Sept. 



30-154 „ 



30-019 „ 



Oct. 



. 30-144 „ 



29-988 „ 



Nov. 



30-129 „ 



29-961 „ 



Dec. 



. 30-342 „ 



29-930 „ 



The highest reading recorded by the Pulu Tikus instru- 

 ments is 30 '9 6 6 ins. in December 1904, and the lowest is 

 28-95 ins. during the cyclone of March 1902 ; but in April 

 1888 a reading of 28-00 ins. is recorded in the Blue Book 

 without any accompanying note of unusual weather. 



Apart from these bare records of the instrumental readings, 

 some other influences of the meteorology of the place must be 

 told. So tiny a speck of dry land in the midst of so much water 

 must of necessity have some peculiarities of its climatic con- 

 ditions, and besides the perpetual mystery of the few incon- 

 siderable feet of coral debris remaining intact in so restless a 

 spot, there are many other individualities of the physical 

 surroundings of the atoll that are of interest. The Trade 

 winds are, of course, the outstanding feature of the atoll's 

 climate, and they are the determining influence which must 

 always be appealed to in solving most of the problems con- 

 nected with the coral circle. It is said that the region of coral 

 islands is usually one of "light winds and calms, even where the 

 Trades are blowing strongly all around them " (Capt. Maury). 

 It is certainly true that the lagoon and the leeward islands are 

 places of comparative calm, but this is more for the reason 

 that the ring of vegetation, 60 feet high, gives them a very real 

 protection than that the Trades are lulled in their neighbour- 

 hood. There are days, but at the most only one or two in 

 each year, that may truly be called calm, and for the rest the 

 Trades blow a steady breeze, with a force of from 10 to 25 

 miles an hour, making every coconut palm toss and sway, and 

 keeping up a steady sea within the lagoon. Exceptional times 

 of course occur in which the Trades die down abnormally, and 

 then, as for instance in the early months of 1906, there are 



