EFFECTS OF FOEE.ST VEaETATIGJiT ON CLIMATE. 205 



basin with but little forest, but it is considered that formerly 

 forests covered the whole province: It is still dense and lofty to 

 the westward, and continues so for 10 miles from the crest of 

 the Grhauts, whilst at 12 miles occurs the bamboo district, with 

 smaller and more open jungle. Dr. Bidie says : " The nature of 

 the forest, and also the kind of the trees found in it, form pretty 

 accurate indices of the amoiuit of rainfall." By a subjoined 

 table by Mr, Eichter, of Yerajendrapetta, I find the means of 

 seven years calculated monthly give a general mean of 111"66 

 inches of rain, with a temperature for four years of 66° 38 Y. 

 But Dr. Bidie states that in the dense jungle tract the rainfall 

 varies from 120 to 150 inches, and in the bam.boo district from 

 60 to 100 inches ; whilst in two or three months, in January, 

 Eebruary, and March of each year (according to the table) none 

 falls. The characteristic trees in the dense jungle are — Michelia, 

 Mesua (ironwood) ; Diospyros (ebony and other species) ; Calo- 

 phyllum angustif olium ; Cedrela toona (white cedar) ; Chickrassia 

 tubularis (red cedar) ; Dipterocarpus, Grarcinia, Artocarpus, 

 Canarium strictum (black dammer tree) ; Euonymus, Cinnamo- 

 num iners, Myristica, Myrtacese, Yaccinium, Melastomacese, three 

 species of Hubus, and a Kose. In this forest there is a dense 

 undergrowth of moisture-loving plants, with splendid orchids on 

 the branches of many of the trees. The bamboo tract is some- 

 what different, the line of approach being marked by the absence 

 of ferns and the prevalence of a small Ardisia. The bamboos 

 send up their branches in all directions, and in the eastern por- 

 tion are teak and sandalwood. This forest is not continuous, 

 but has grassy glades, and under the shade are good pasture 

 grasses and gay annuals in the rainy season. 



The rain in Coorg is almost entirely derived from the south- 

 west monsoon — chiefly between 1st June and the end of Septem- 

 ber. The winds come loaded with rain, which deposit their 

 freight on the Ghauts and the lower regions to the west. This 

 rain is from condensation of the warm ocean vapour on the 

 colder hills ; and Dr. Bidie sa,ys there can be little difference 

 whether the mountain slopes are bare or clothed with dense 

 forest. He regards the forest on the high lands not as the 

 parent, but as the produce of the rain, as the latter diminishes 

 to the eastward. 



As no regular records have been kept for the last fifteen or 

 twenty years, he says there is not sufiicient evidence to support 

 his opinion that " the annual rainfall can be sensibly diminished 

 by the destruction of the forest that has taken place." Yet the 

 natives complain that their country of late years has become 

 hotter and drier from want of rain, and that rice crops have 

 been diminished or lost from failure of water in streams that 

 used to run throughout the year. These changes they attribute 



