494 Rainfall in Britain. 



to 104*26 inches. The mountainous character of the 

 country produced that result, for in the Isle of Lewes in 

 the same year the rainfal] at Stornoway was only 31 '7 9 

 inches, while at Cromarty on the east coast of Scotland 

 about 26 inches of rain fell. In parts of Aberdeen- 

 shire the average fall is from 24 to 33*5 inches, and in 

 Fife the fall is from about 20 to 30 inches, in Midlo- 

 thian from 29 to 37, and in Haddingtonshire from 23 

 to 25. The same rule of decrease of rainfall therefore 

 prevails in Scotland that prevails in England, and it is 

 needless to multiply instances. The area, therefore, 

 of Great Britain varies much in the fall of rain, and 

 the average temperature of the western area is raised 

 and rendered agreeable by the influence of the Grulf 

 Stream. So much is this the case, that certain garden 

 plants grow through the winter in Wales and the west 

 of England, and even in the far north-west of Scotland, 

 which the winter cold of Middlesex kills. I have seen 

 bamboo canes growing in the open air in a garden in 

 Angiesea all the year round, and common fuchsias on 

 the shores of Loch Erribol in Sutherland. 



Now the watery vapour in the air that rises from the 

 heated water of the Grulf Stream, is carried to the British 

 coast by the prevalent west and south-west winds, and 

 is partly intercepted on its passage eastward by the 

 mountains which rise in the west of Ireland and Great 

 Britain. Everyone who has visited Cumberland and 

 Wales knows how rainy these regions are compared 

 with the centre and east of England. The reason is, 

 that the air laden with moisture from the Atlantic 

 rises with the winds against the western flanks of the 

 mountains into the colder regions of the atmosphere, 

 and the air also expanding at these heights, rain is 

 precipitated there and upon adjacent lands. The same 

 is the case in Scotland, where the Highland mountains 



