Rainfall in Britain. 493 



the fall is about the same, but at Beddgelert in 1870 it 

 amounted to 101-58 inches, and in the Pass of Llanberis 

 to 76*67, while at Caernarvon close by the sea the rain- 

 fall was only 38-02 inches. In Anglesea the average fall 

 is about 34^ inches. 



In Staffordshire, further from the west coast and 

 from the mountains, the average rainfall is about 23 

 inches, in Leicestershire about 19 inches, in Bedford- 

 shire about 16 inches, and in Norfolk about 24 to 25 

 inches, In this southern half of England the rainfall 

 therefore evidently decreases from west to east. Lan- 

 cashire is a rainy county. At Manchester the rainfall 

 varies from 32-59 to 36-77 inches, at Bolton 44-21 

 to 49, and at Coniston it is as high as 64 inches, but 

 that is in the Cumbrian region of Lancashire. In Cum- 

 berland the annual rainfall varies from about 22 at 

 Cockermouth, on the low ground near the coast, to 154 

 inches at Seathwaite, in the heart of the mountains, and 

 in 1871 it is stated to have been still higher, and perhaps 

 the average rainfall of the whole of that mountain region 

 may amount to about 70 inches annually. As we pass 

 eastward it decreases, but on the highest grounds of 

 Yorkshire and Northumberland there are places where it 

 rises from 51 to 56 inches, while in the lower ground at 

 Holbeck, Leeds, it falls to about 22-85, at Newcastle to 

 about 24, and at North Shields on the coast to about 26 

 inches. 



In Scotland the same kind of observation holds 

 good with regard to the rainy character of the west. 

 In Argyleshire the lowest rainfall in 1870 was 42 inches 

 at Inverary, and the highest 109*20 inches at Lochgoil- 

 head. The average rainfall for the whole county, and 

 in the islands, may perhaps be estimated at from 55 to 

 60 inches. At For tree in Skye, in 1871, it amounted 



