174 President's Remarks on the Winter Rains. [Nov., 



in India, or travel thither from the westward. In my original paper 

 I have mentioned several instances, in which there was no room for 

 reasonable doubt that the vortices which constitute the disturbance were 

 formed over India itself : and the only cases which may be considered 

 open to question are those in which the disturbance makes its first 

 appearance on the western frontier, either in Sind or the Punjab. Of 

 these, Mr. Chambers points to two, the tracks of which are laid down on 

 the charts published in Washington, and which he considers to illustrate 

 his position. The two charts in question are laid on the table. In one 

 of them (that for December 1877), it will be seen that the only evidence 

 of the storm in question is that furnished by the Indian observatories. 

 The track, as laid down, begins on the western frontier of India, and 

 the case has therefore no bearing on the point at issue. But it has 

 an interest in connection with this controversy, because it shows that 

 very erroneous conclusions as to the track of a storm may be drawn 

 even from the comparatively abundant evidence furnished from 23 

 stations in India,* in other words, that even this evidence is insufficient 

 for the deduction of an accurate track. The charts drawn in the 

 Meteorological Office for the days covered by the storm track show that 

 the vortex after reaching the Central Provinces, remained for two or 

 three days almost stationary and then disappeared, whereas on the 

 American chart the track is carried on across Bengal and up into Assam. 

 " In the other instance quoted by Mr. Chambers, that of February 

 1878, a track is laid down which, beginning on the coast of the Atlantic, 

 west of Tangier, traverses three-fourths of the length of theMediterranean, 

 the high plateau of Armenia, the Caspian, and a portion of Turkistan ; 

 then bending southwards it crosses the Hindu Khush and enters India 

 about Multan. Finally it passes across Northern India and terminates 

 somewhere about the Sandheads. A great part of this is dotted only, 

 showing that it is considered to be uncertain. And, in point of fact, for 

 about 2,000 miles to the westward of the Indian frontier the only evi- 

 dence on which it rests appears to be that of two observatories, viz., Tiflis, 

 1,600 miles from Peshawur, and Tashkend, 400 miles to the north. It 

 will certainly be admitted by any one who has given much attention to 

 this subject, that, on a disputed point of this kind, such evidence can 

 go for very little. The question is whether an air vortex travelled this 

 enormous distance, passing continuously from the Mediterranean to the 

 hio-h Armenian plateau, then skirting the Caucasus, and passing over 

 the plains of Turkistan, finally surmounted the Hindu Khush before 

 reaching the Punjab. Even in dealing with a comparatively limited extent 



* The number which furnish synoptic observations to the American Signal 

 Service Office. 



