212 Climate of the Cape of Good Hope, [No. 123. 



east side of the building, in the shade, and protected from solar radia- 

 tion ; 4 p. m. is the hour of most of the Indian observations, a few only 

 of those at Darjeeling having been made at 4 hrs. 30' and 5 hrs. p. m. — 

 the time of each set of observations therefore, being about an hour 

 after the hottest period of the day, a rough estimate may be formed of 

 the usual afternoon temperature, as well as a pretty fair comparison of 

 the maximum temperature of the above places with that of the Cape, 

 while from the means of the monthly minima, a comparison may be 

 formed of the greatest average cold at the Cape and Darjeeling. 



As Cape Town lies close to the base of Table Mountain, which, 

 together with the Lion and the Devil's Peak encompasses it on three 

 sides, its temperature is considerably higher than that of the Observatory 

 which is nearly three miles distant, and being situated on the low 

 isthmus between False Bay and Table Bay, enjoys the benefit of the 

 breeze which generally blows from one bay or the other. 



The Camp ground, Rondebosch, and Wynberg, possess a similar 

 advantage in point of situation over Cape Town, (from which they are 

 distant from 4 to 8 miles.) They are the favourite abode of Indian visi- 

 tors during the warm months, but as they He nearer than the Observatory 

 to the mountain, the weather is much damper, and the fall of rain con- 

 siderably greater during the winter, than at that place. In the hot 

 weather, however, they certainly enjoy a cooler climate, in consequence 

 probably of the greater abundance of verdure and shade. 



Table Mountain, and indeed the whole range of hills, of which the 

 Devil's Peak is the northern extremity, produce a variety of interesting 

 atmospherical phenomena, and often times occasion an entire difference 

 in the state of the weather at Cape Town, which is situated on the west 

 side, and at Wynberg and Rondebosch on the other side of the 

 range. 



The north-west winds which prevail during the winter, are always 

 loaded with much vapour, and bring much rain, but as the rain is fre- 

 quently not formed till the vapour, after passing over Cape Town, has 

 reached the cold summit of the mountain, it very often happens that 

 though a fine day in Cape Town, it is raining heavily at Wynberg, Ron- 

 debosch, and other places on the lee side of the mountain. During the 

 summer months, the same cause gives rise to a similar phenomenon, and 

 occasions the well-known appearance on the top of the mountain, called 

 the Table Cloth. The south-east sea breeze, which prevails at this 



