1843.] and the Eastern portion of Cutchee. 27 



No. 3. 



In Upper Sindh, there are no periodical rains, and its year would 

 therefore appear to have only two seasons ; viz. the 

 hot and cold. The natives of the country, however, 

 divide it into three; viz. Bahar (or spring,) Tabistan (hot season,) 

 and Zemistan, (cold season,) and strictly speaking, it may, from its 

 latitude, be thus divided. The spring is of very short duration, for the 

 cold up to the end of February is often very great, whilst the heat 

 from the commencement to the middle of March, is little exceeded by 

 that of the three following months, and the period of a temperate cli- 

 mate therefore between the extremes of the cold and hot seasons is very 

 brief. The hot season may be said to commence from the middle of 

 March, and continues generally without intermission until the end of 

 August, or middle of September. Storms of thunder with rain oc- 

 casionally occur in June or July, affording a temporary cessation from 

 the intense heat; but they are by no means to be depended upon. 

 A curious phenomenon is observable in this country on the setting in 

 of one of these storms, it being always preceded for two or three days 

 by a close atmosphere, loaded with a fine description of sand, giving 

 the effect of a thick fog ; but immediately previous to the bursting of 

 a storm, the air is literally darkened by immense volumes of sand, 

 driven in black masses before the wind, obscuring the whole surface of 

 the country. These sand storms are the natural effects of the desert 

 tracts surrounding Upper Sindh, over which no violent wind can pass 

 without raising clouds of the shifting sands which cover their surface. 

 With the exception of these passing storms, Upper Sindh is free from 

 the annoyance experienced on this account in the delta during the 

 prevalence of the south-west monsoon. The heat of Upper Sindh 

 from the middle of April to the end of July, is said to exceed that of 

 any part of India, and the range of the thermometer has been known 

 in a verandah to have reached 145° ; in a tent it is by no means un- 

 common to find it at 120°; the hot winds continue to blow severely 

 till midnight, but the mornings are generally cool. The atmosphere 

 is remarkably dry, and generally clear, the ranges of the thermometer 

 during the hot months, do not indicate any great variation. Storms 

 of rain are frequent at the vernal equinox. 



