508 Report on the Turan Mall Hill. [No. 6. 



cairn of stones heaped over the grave ; a custom which has been handed 

 down to them from their ancestors, but as to the purport of such sin- 

 gularity, in making a difference, betwixt the obsequies of the two sexes, 

 they profess ignorance. Believing in the transmigration of souls, they 

 are besides, and perhaps in consequence, much given to superstitious 

 reliance in omens derived from animals and birds. 



During the period of my stay at Turan Mall, I had every reason to 

 judge favorably of its climate. The accompanying meteorological ob- 

 servations will show a mean maximum of temperature of 85.47 for the 

 month of May ; which is particularly low, for the altitude attained. 

 To account for this it must be taken into consideration that several 

 causes are brought into play ; the proximity of a large lake, the evapo- 

 ration from which extending over a superficies of upwards of 120 square 

 acres must be very great ; adjoining forests, which are known always 

 to conduce to decreased temperature ; the soil which being of a plastic 

 and attractive nature will also materially aid to lower the range of the 

 thermometer. 



Above the influence of the hot winds Turan Mall is visited for the 

 greater part of the year by strong and steady winds from the W. and 

 S. W. quarters, which evidently coming from the ocean (distant about 

 100 miles) and carrying along with them a great amount of moisture, 

 add much to the agreeable sensation of the atmosphere, which to the 

 feelings, seems always to be of a temperature lower than that indicated 

 by the thermometer. Every thing on the hill tends to prove a tem- 

 perate climate. The stranger is first attracted by the greenness and 

 freshness of the trees and shrubs, and the grass which where it has 

 been burnt, will even in May, the hottest month of the year, throw out 

 during the course of a few days, new shoots : and this not after any 

 fall of rain, but from the moisture naturally in the soil nourishing the 

 roots. Turan Mall, however, with all the benefits which might be 

 derived from a residence on it will not, I am afraid, bear a close com- 

 parison to the sanatarium in the Mahabaleshwar hills which has a 

 general temperature of 5 degrees or so lower than that of the place 

 now under discussion. In the equability of climate I doubt if there is 

 much difference. The annual mean of daily variation at Mahabalesh- 

 war being nearly 10° and that of Turan Mall merely in the hottest 

 month of the year not exceeding 15.33. For May the power of the 



