24 TROPICAL NATURE, AND OTHER ESSAYS. 



generally more violent than in the temperate regions. 

 The wind-storms axe rarely of excessive violence, as 

 might in fact be inferred from the extreme steadiness of 

 the barometer, whose daily range at Batavia rarely exceeds 

 one-eighth of an inch, while the extreme range during 

 three years was less than one-third of an inch ! The 

 amount of the rainfall is very great, seventy or eighty 

 inches in a year being a probable average ; and as the 

 larger part of this occurs during three or four months, 

 individual rainfalls are often exceedingly heavy. The 

 greatest fall recorded at Batavia during three years 

 was three inches and eight-tenths in one hour,^ but this 

 was quite exceptional, and even half this quantity is 

 very unusual. The greatest rainfall recorded in twenty- 

 four hours is seven inches and a quarter ; but more than 

 four inches in one day occurs only on two or three occa- 

 sions in a year. The blue colour of the sky is probably 

 not so intense as in many parts of the temperate zone, 

 while the brilliancy of the moon and stars is not 

 perceptibly greater than that of our clearest frosty nights, 

 and is undoubtedly much inferior to what is witnessed 

 in many desert regions, and even in Southern Europe. 



On the whole, then, we must decide, that uniformity 

 and abundance, rather than any excessive manifestations, 

 are the prevailing characteristic of all the climatal 

 phenomena of the equatorial zone. 



Concluding Remarks. — We cannot better conclude 

 our account of the equatorial climate than by quoting 

 the following vivid description of the physical pheno- 

 mena which occur during the early part of the dry 

 season at Para. It is taken from Mr. Bates' Naturalist 



' On January 10th, 1867, from 1 to 2 a.m. 



