286 INDIAN METEOROLOGY. 



of the older observatories, by the verification of all the thermo- 

 meters and the withdrawal of all inferior instruments. A first 

 instalment of the tabulated observations in Indian seas, extracted 

 from the meteorological log-books in the Marine Department of 

 the British Meteorological Office, was received during the same 

 year, and proved to be of such extent and value that Mr. Blanford 

 strongly recommended the speedy completion of the work. 



Progress was also made in the collation of the registers of rainfall 

 in former years. Unfortunately, the records for Northern India, 

 ranging from 1851 to 1860, had been made over to the Messrs. Von 

 Schlagintweit, to aid them in the preparation of their work on 

 magnetic and meteorological observations in India, and although 

 application was made to Mr. Hermann Von Schlagintweit-Sakiilunski 

 for the return of the original registers, that gentleman practically 

 declined to let them go, except on conditions which were held to be 

 unreasonable. Eventually, however, on Mr. Blanford's proceeding 

 on furlough to Europe, he availed himself of the opportunity to 

 visit Munich and obtain copies of the registers in question. 



The meteorology of 1876 possessed a sinister interest in that in 

 the two southern presidencies the failure of the annual rains was 

 followed by wide -spread suffering and a heavy mortality, while 

 Bengal was visited by a terrible storm flood of almost unprecedented 

 destructiveness. "With respect to the rainfall, it is certain that 

 from an early period of 1876 the distribution of pressure in the 

 Punjab and the Indus valley must have weakened, and perhaps 

 diverted, the summer monsoon that reaches India from the Arabian 

 Sea, and have given prevalence to the dry westerly winds that, as a 

 normal feature of the hot season, blow from Baluchistan across a 

 considerable part of the Bombay Presidency. Other causes also were 

 probably at work, but the mere fact that a great disturbance in the 

 normal distribution of the rainfall is found to accompany an 

 abnormal distribution of pressure, which distribution was manifested 

 some months in anticipation of the rainy season, is of considerable 

 importance. 



A manual of instruction for the guidance of meteorological 

 observers was completed and issued during the year, together with 

 the tables of reduction specially drawn up for use in India. To 

 supplement this and encourage inquiry, a sketch of the meteorology 

 of India, accompanied by an introductory chapter on the physical 

 laws of the atmosphere and an outline of the physical geography of 

 India, was prepared by Mr. Blanford, the whole forming an octavo 



