14 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



say of our predecessors, viz., that they have left us very much in the 

 dark on many subjects on which they should have enlightened us. 

 The officers of vessels visiting or passing us are taught and know- 

 more about the bed of the oceans washing our coast-line, their 

 currents, winds, and temperatures than we know, despite the efforts 

 of the Educational Department of the land we live in. 



How many of us could, offhand, give a fair description of the 

 geological formations, climatic peculiarities, variations in soils, or 

 class the herbage or artificial productions underlying a line drawn 

 haphazard across the map of South Africa ? It will be justly said 

 that no single individual can want to know all these things, but I 

 urge that the individual who does want to acquire any knowledge of 

 the kind, relating to any part of the country, should be enabled to 

 acquire that knowledge without having to apply to specialists on the 

 different subjects, or to wade, knee-deep, through Blue-books, of the 

 contents of which no general index has ever yet been compiled. 



Annexed will be found tables of comparisons and curves illus- 

 trating those used in investigating losses and determining ex- 

 penditure, and to these I have added notes which make them 

 self-explanatory as far as the data I have on hand permit me to 

 make them. 



I. 



1884-5. 



Intervals 



Total fall 

 during 



Rate per day 



Rate per 

 month of 





in days. 



interval. 



inches. 



30 days. 



Jan. 23-Feb. 20 . 





28 



10-68 



0-381 



11-43 



Feb. 20-Mar. 30 . 





39 



11-40 



0-292 



8-76 



Mar. 30-May 6 . 





37 



8-04 



0-217 



6-51 



May 6-June 12 





37 



4-44 



0-120 



3-60 



June 12-July 12 . 





30 



3-24 



0-108 



3-24 



July 12-Aug. 31 . 





50 



6-60 



0-132 



3-96 



Aug. 31-Sept. 30 . 





30 



6-12 



0-204 



6-12 



Sept. 30-Oct. 28 . 





28 



9-48 



0-338 



10-16 



Oct. 28-Nov. 30 . 





33 



14-16 



0-429 



12-87 



Nov. 30-Dec. 31 . 





31 



14-16 



0-457 



13-71 



Dec. 31-Jan. 23 . 





23 



10-44 



0-454 



13-62 



Jan. 23-Feb. 25 . 





33 



11-88 



0-360 



10-80 



Feb. 25-Mar. 30 . 





33 



12-48 



0-378 



11-34 



Mar. 30-April 30 . 





31 



10-80 



0-349 



10-47 



April 30-May 31 . 





31 



3-84 



0-124 



3-72 



May 31-June 17 . 





17 



1-32 



0-078 



2-33 



