KECURRENCE OF RAIN. 115 



in good years would have amounted to about twenty millions of 

 sheep more. 



Now turning to the diagram of the moon, it was made in this 

 way: the extreme south position of the moon for each year was 

 selected as a convenient way of shewing the motion in declination 

 and marked on the diagram representing that year, and year after 

 year the moon's extreme declination was plotted on these lines, 

 ultimately all the points were joined together and made the curve 

 you see, which simply indicates the extreme south distance of the 

 moon from the equator each year ; and during the southerly 

 motion of the moon for six years there is abundance of rain. Then 

 drought begins, not wholly for want of rain, but in many cases 

 because we have strong N. to N.W. hot winds; a feature which 

 does not appear when there is plenty of rain. 



I do not mean to say that I have demonstrated that the moon 

 is an active point in the weather, but I think, seeing the rain is 

 shown so clearly to come in times of abundance, when the moon 

 is in certain degrees of her motion south, and when the moon 

 begins to go north, then droughty conditions prevail for seven or 

 even eight years, a phenomena repeated for three periods of nine- 

 teen years each, that it is either a marvellous coincidence, or there 

 is a law connecting the two phenomena : I am convinced that 

 there is some connection between the two. 



