114 H. C. RUSSELL. 
influence has, however, been obtained, as indicated in the text, 
and I hope that when completed it will amount to a demonstration; 
I may, however, say here, that I do not think eclipses, as such, 
have any appreciable influence on droughts. 
The President asks, ‘‘ What convention Mr. Russell adopted to 
indicate with an approximation to uniformity, the beginning and 
end of a drought for the purpose of graphic illustration.” The 
only guide as to the boundary line between good and bad years 
was the time when sufficient rain ceased, which marked the end 
of good weather, which as the diagram shews was very frequently 
not the end of a year, but often was the time of equinoxes ; some- 
times the change comes in other months, but the tendency is for 
a change to come about March or September, the times of equinox; 
when thus determined, the diagram was plotted accordingly, shew- 
ing as nearly as the size of the diagram permitted, the time of 
year at which the change took place. 
The Rey. Dr. Wyatt Gill, who was for thirty-three years 4 
missionary in the Cook’s group of Islands, and knew from his 
predecessor, what the weather had been for seven years before he 
went, gives me as his contribution to the discussion on my paper; 
some valuable notes as the result of that forty years experience. 
He says, that in those islands hurricanes came in droughts, and 
‘he knew that they were in for a hurricane if there was a drought 
in summer,’ and the natives of Mangaia, who are keen observers, 
if asked about the weather repeated their proverb, “ Kare e roto, 
ka ta te aa ra,” which translated is, “should there be no flood there 
will be a hurricane.” This then was the result of generations of 
close observation by those whose lives to a large extent depended 
upon it. Unquestionably a heavy flood in those islands is a /ar 
less evil than a cyclone, because the flood secured sufficient mois- 
ture for the “Taro”! which constitutes the staff of life on Mangaia, 
and at that period no supplies of food were obtainable from any 
outside source. About the year 1813 a terrible famine resulted 
from long continued drought in the island of Mangais. Probably 
ee ee 1 Caladium petiolatum. == 
