CHAPTEE LIII. 



Heat in Mid-August— Early Planting and Sowing — Over-ripening of Crops — Medusx — 

 Stinging Jelly-Fish — Tiie amount of solid matter in Jelly- Fish. 



The unprecedented heat of mid-August lasted ■with us here precisely 

 a fortnight [September 1876]. Beginniag on the 10th, it contiQued 

 ■with little intermission or mitigation till the 24th, ■when the ■wind 

 suddenly chopped round to the south-^west, our rainy quarter ; the 

 sky assumed the threatening aspect, an ugly interminglement of 

 black and dark grey, ■with ■which ■we are only too familiar, and rain 

 began to fall ■with that dour, persistent pattering, and aimless 

 horizontal drift, ■which sufficed to convince the most careless and 

 unobservant student of our West Highlands meteorology that it 

 ■was neither a thunder-plump nor a mere passing sho'wer, but a 

 determined and regular "set-in" of probably some days, or, it 

 might be, of some ■weeks' duration. The last ten days have 

 accordingly been more or less ■wet, and as the corn over the 

 country generally is about ripe for scythe and sickle, many an 

 anxious eye is cast heaven'wards ■with ■wistfuUest glance, morning, 

 noon, and night, in hopes of a change of ■wind and a return to fair 

 ■weather. "We are about tired of advocating the advantages of early 

 so^wing to our friends of the "West Highlands. "V\''e are content 

 ■with once again stating the fact that, having so'wn early, our o^wn 

 corn ■was cut in ripe and good condition on the 17th August, and 

 safely housed ■without having once been touched by a single drop 

 of rain. A single armful of such ■well-preserved provender is 

 ■worth a ■whole back-burden of the ■washed-out and sapless stuif 



