1832.] Meteorological Observations. 25 



The first of the following tables comprehends the general range of 

 the weather ; the wind, the clouds, and the rain : having the same 

 letters to denote the nature of the clouds as are applied in the monthly- 

 registers : zero denotes the absence of wind or cloud, and the degree of 

 force or of prevalence of particular winds is shewn by the form or siz e 

 of the type, appealing at once to the eye. 



The south or south-easterly monsoon prevails from the spring to 

 the autumnal equinox, and northerly winds for the remainder of the 

 year ; there are intervals of calm and variable winds at the equinoxes and 

 solstices : the registers do not particularize storms, but two or three 

 very severe ones have occurred in the interval under review. We may 

 instance the storm of May, J 830, which injured so many houses in 

 Calcutta; and the gale of November, 1831, which committed such 

 havoc in the Cuttack district. As a sample of the course and disastrous 

 effects of these storms, we extract a description of the one last men- 

 tioned from Mr. G. A. Prinsep's recent work on Saugor Island. 



" While these pages have been in the press, another inundation has occurred more 

 destructive than that of 1823, at a period of the year when such an event was 

 unknown in the upper part of the Bay. Since the 22nd of October, the northerly 

 monsoon seemed to be steadily set in with a cloudless sky ; and the freshness of 

 the mornings, indicating an early and along cold season, was the common subject 

 of congratulation among the Europeans residing in Calcutta. A depression of 

 less than a tenth of an inch in the Barometer on the 30th excited no attention : 

 the day was fine as usual, with very light northerly airs ; but towards evening, a 

 veil of cirrus enfeebled the sun's rays, and some heavy clouds shewed themselves 

 in the south-east. At 8 P. M. a light puif or two from that quarter momentarily 

 interrupted the northerly breeze, which had freshened a little, about the time that 

 a gust from the same direction was felt in Hovvrah, strong and sudden, like a 

 north-wester. At day-break, on the 31st, the sky was overcast with a drizzling 

 rain, the wind rather fresh at N. E. and increasing : by noon it was blowing a gale, 

 and at short intervals heavy showers succeeded each other, during the rest of the 

 day : violent gusts after sunset reminded us of the storm in May last year. The 

 direction of the wind was still N. E. to E. After midnight, it suddenly veered to th e 

 southward, blowing tempestuously for several hours. During the 1st, it came 

 round to the S. W. abating in force with every fresh point of westing. The 2nd 

 was a dull cloudy cold day, with the wind at west to N. W. but the gale had 

 c eased : while it continued, there fell about 2 inches of rain. The Barometer 

 indicated at its lowest ins. 29.672 at 4 p. M. on the 31st, and at sunrise on the 1st 

 November, being only a fall of .348 with reference to the highest point at which 

 it stood on the 29th. But the river was unusually troubled, and much damage 

 occurred among the boats : at Mr. Kyd's dock-gates, the water rose to the mirk 

 of 21 feet 6 inches* in the night tide of the 31st, having been only at 14 feet 6 



* 20 feet by the river gauge reduced to correspond with his tide tables. — In the 

 great storm of May 1823, the water only rose to the mark of 20 feet (River 18. 6) 

 being 1 foot 4 inches above the proper level : the greatest difference was then at 



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