APPENDIX 



tions registered regularly at Kuching of late, and published in the 

 Sarawak Gazette. From these we find that during the years 1891-92-93 

 the maximum temperature registered at Kuching was 95 Fahr., the 

 minimum being 82 , on March 31st, 1893. The very same extremes 

 are given on the following April 1st. For this reason I suspect that there 

 must have been some error in the reading or in the printing of the tempera- 

 ture data of those two days. Putting these aside, therefore, the maximum 

 temperature during the three years mentioned would be 92 Fahr., and 

 the minimum 69 Fahr. 



From the records mentioned it is evident that there is a singular 

 constancy and uniformity in the minimum temperatures of Kuching 

 throughout the year, as they vary between 69 and 75 Fahr. It also 

 appears that the warmer months are from May to September inclusive, 

 with maxima of 88° and 92 . January and February are the coldest 

 months, the maxima being 82 and 85 . Thus in Kuching there would 

 be at the most a difference of about io° between the maximum tempera- 

 tures of all the months in the year ; and again, differences exceeding 18 

 almost never occur in the twenty-four hours, and when they do, it is 

 especially in the warmer months. 



The amount of the rainfall in Kuching over a period of seven years 

 is given below — 





Number of Rainy 



Years. 



Days. 



1886 



246 



1887 



225 



1888 



176 



1889 



249 



1890 



255 



1891 



254 



1892 



266 



Rainfall in Inches. 



i73'37 

 166-45 

 107-41 

 i54'33 

 i47"30 

 144-29 



163-93 



This shows the exceptional relative dryness of the year 1888. The 

 most rainy months of the year are usually December, January, and 

 February, and in a lesser degree November and March ; the dryest 

 months are July, August, and September. In July, 1889, an extraordinary 

 minimum rainfall — 1-95 inches — was observed. The maximum rainfall 

 was in February, 1886, when 43*83 inches fell. 



During some years abundant rain fell also during the fine (or so-called 

 dry) season. Thus during May, 1886, 12*38 inches were registered ; 

 in August of the same year, iro8 inches ; in June, 1887, 14-47 inches ; 

 in July, 1889, 12-84 inches ; and in the following September, 14-38 inches ; 

 in May, 1890, 12-15 inches ; in June, 1891, 10-43 inches ; in August, 

 1892, 11-16 inches. This is sufficient to prove that during the so-called 

 dry season a prolonged absence of rain is quite exceptional in Sarawak. 

 "Nature of the Vegetation in Borneo. — With these data before us, we 

 may now pass on to a consideration of the question raised at the beginning 

 of this chapter. A tropical country, which has a climate like that above . 



380 



