314 



(October, 1912. 



from one mother to the other, gamboling round each of them for some 

 half hour, much to the excitement and delight of the spectators, who 

 took a whole-hearted interest in the entertainment. The Malay is a 

 patient being but I am not, and amid shouts of " Belum lagi tentu" and 

 the bleating of that baby kerbau whose scul could not rise above the 

 gallery, I departed homewards to my tiffin. — British North Borneo 

 Herald, September 2nd, 1912. 



HURRICANES. 



An interesting article on the above appears in the Agricultural News 

 for August 1912. A hurricane is a cyclonic storm ; that is to say a storm 

 in which the wind swings round in a circle. The origin of such storm is 

 in the region of the Equator. North of the Equator, the circular move- 

 ment is always in direction opposite to that taken by the hands of a 

 watch because, as was discovered by Ferrel, the rotation of the earth 

 causes all moving bodies in the northern hemisphere to swerve a little 

 to the right, and this movement of all the particles causes a general 

 counter-clockwise motion. In the southern hemisphere, the swerve is the 

 reverse and cyclones rotate with the hands of a clock. 



Warning Indications. 



Before a hurricane, the barometer is somewhat higher than usual, 

 with cool, very clear, pleasant weather. The sky is covered with a 

 quantity of light feathery cirrus clouds radiating from a point on the 

 horizon. If the cirrus plumes are taint and opalescent in tint, fading 

 gradually behind a slowly thickening haze or veil, the approaching storm 

 is an old one, of large area. If of snowy whiteness, projected against a 

 clear blue sky, it is a young cyclone of small area but great intensity. 



As the storm approaches, the following unmistakable signs display 

 themselves. The barometer falls rapidly ; halos are seen around the sun 

 and moon ; the ocean swell increases ; the weather becomes hot, moist and 

 oppressive, with light variable winds ; a heavy mountainous cloud bink 

 on the distant horizon indicates the position of the approaching storm. 



Indications useful to those encountering hurricanes on laud can be 

 made from what has been said. In any part of the storm area, if an 

 observer faces the wind, the storm centre is on his right in the northern 

 hemisphere ; and if the direction of the wind remains constant, and there 

 is an increase in violence accompanied by a falling barometer, it means 

 that he is directly in the track of the hurricane ; and his experience in 

 such a case will be that these latter conditions will be emphasized until 

 the centre or eye of the cyclone arrives, when there will be a short calm, 

 followed by a change of the wind to exactly the opposite direction and a 

 return of the stormy conditions, usually with increased violence. 



COTTON CROP OP ASSAM, 1912-13. 



FIRST FORECAST 



The estimated area under cotton this year is 34,900 acres against 

 36,300 acres last year, the decrease being due to unfavourable weather at 

 the beginning of the sowing time. The present prospects of the crop are 

 fair. Assam represents some 0*2 % of the total cotton area in India. 



