1884.] Mr. Eliot's Remarlcs on the Winter Bains. 175 



of country such as India, the tracing of such a track is a much more 

 deceptive matter than might be supposed. Two instances illustrative 

 of this occurred in 1881, and are desciibed and illustrated in the 3rd 

 Memoir in Vol. II, of the Indian Meteorological Memoirs. The first is 

 that of a storm which passed from the Bay of Bengal to the plateau 

 of Central India, when it disappeared, and was followed five days later 

 by the formation of another and independent vortex in Western B-ajpu- 

 tana and Kattiwar, in the prolongation of the track of the first storm. 

 The second is that of a storm which was formed off the coast of Ceylon, 

 whence it travelled to Madras and broke up apparently against the 

 Eastern Ghats. But, while this vortex was still in existence, an inde- 

 pendent vortex was forming on the west coast, again in the prolonga- 

 tion of the track of the first storm. In both cases the first and second 

 storms were demonstrably independent vortices, but they were separated 

 by a few hundred miles only, distances insignificant in comparison with 

 that which separates Peshawar from Tiflis. 



" I think then that the question stands very much as it was stated 

 in my original paper. There is really no evidence to show that the cold 

 weather storms travel to us from the region to the west of India, while 

 there are many cases on record in which there can be no reasonable 

 doubt that they have originated in India. I would not deny that storms 

 may originate on the Mekran coast and the Beluchistan plateau, nor 

 that the mountain region is frequently included in the area of falling 

 pressure, which eventually centres in the vortex. Evidence of this is 

 no doubt wanting, but it would be quite consistent with the theory set 

 forth in my paper, and I am quite content to await further evidence on 

 the point of fact ; but the reality of such a track as that laid down on 

 the American chart for February 1878 I regard as in a high degree 

 questionable." 



Mr. Eliot was unable to concur with Mr. Chambers that the ques- 

 tion, as to whether the disturbances, which gave much of the cold 

 weather rains, entered India from beyond the western frontiers or were 

 generated in India itself, was a mere side issue. The fact that they 

 are cyclonic disturbances has been known for some years. The question, 

 whether they are generated in the majority of cases, as Mr. Blanford 

 appears to have established, within the limits of our Indian meteorologi- 

 cal system, or enter from without, is of importance theoretically as well 

 as practically. The genesis of any class of atmospheric disturbance is 

 a most important question, and it is no solution to remove their origin 

 to a distant and unknown region. Hence if it can be established that 

 the majority of these storms originate and are confined to the Indian 

 area, a most useful step will have been made. It will then be possible 



