1836.] On the Revolution of the Seasons. 281 



chronological register of mythological times : — if the latter, the names 

 of the reigning monarchs are omitted as immaterial, and the simple 

 fact announced, " in the year so and so, so many reigns ;" — but even 

 this is conjectural, and unless errors have been committed in copying 

 the figures, they do not run in any seeming order. The word sak~ 

 kardk is the Talain rendering of the Sanscrit sakardj, year ; in Barmese 

 written sakkarej : the terms Iri kun and nhah are unknown to my in- 

 formant. J. P. Sec. 



V. — On the Revolution of the Seasons. By the Rev. R. Everest. 

 In the Journal of April 1835, I gave the result of a comparison of 

 the amount of rain-fall at Calcutta, with different positions of the 

 moon, as far as regards her declination. The averages shew that a 

 greater quantity of rain fell on the days when the declination was 

 large, say from 20° to 28°, fhan when it was small. Now, as there 

 are some years in the lunar cycle in which the declination never 

 reaches to 20°, it followed, as a probable, though not a necessary, 

 inference, that in those years there would be a deficiency of rain. 

 Shortly afterwards I met with this note, (Humboldt's New Spain, 

 translated by Black, vol. ii. page 86.) " Toaldo pretends to be 

 able to deduce from a great number of observations, that the very 

 rainy years, and consequently the great inundations, return every 19 

 years according to the terms of the cycle of Saros — Rozier, Journal 

 de Physique 1783." The recurrence seems here spoken of as an 

 exploded error. 1 have therefore used whatever means lay within my 

 reach to obtain information as to what really has been the variation 

 of the seasons in this country for a long time back, and I will now 

 state the results. But I must first premise respecting the note just 

 quoted, that great inundations are not a necessaiy consequence of very 

 rainy years. Should the rain fall regularly or equably, it will be less 

 likely to occasion an inundation, than a much less quantity falling in 

 a very short time. This will be more particularly the case in rocky 

 and mountainous countries, where the channels are more easily choaked. 

 In wide-extended plains, like those of the Nile and the Ganges, the 

 rise of the river will form a more probable criterion of the amount of 

 the rainy- season, though not a certain one. To revert, however, to 

 the point proposed. The year 1829, was that of the minimum decli- 

 nation of the moon, and from the early part of 1827, to the end of 

 1831, the declination is never stated in the Almanacks at above 20°. 

 For this, or rather for a period somewhat more extended, viz. from 

 1826 to 1833, inclusive, we have the following facts recorded. 

 2 o 



