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Scientific Intelligence. [No. 10, new series. 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



On Hail Storms in Cochin and Travancore. 

 By Lieutenant General Cullen. 



1. In the Report for 1855 of the British Association for the ad- 

 vancement of Science is a paper by Dr. G. Buist, of Bombay, on 

 Hail Storms in India, and in which it is observed, " while Hail 

 " Storms are frequent along the Western shore of the Bay of Ben- 

 " gal ; from Surat south to Ceylon in corresponding Latitudes 

 " and Altitudes on the Malabar Coast, Hail is a thing nearly un- 

 " known." 



2. The subject had engaged my attention soon after my arriv- 

 al on this Coast in 1841. I learnt that, Hail was, in some parts 

 of Cochin and Travancore, of frequent, and in fact of regular an- 

 nual occurrence ; chiefly in the Great Break or opening in the 

 Ghats at Palghat lat. 10° 30', but also occasionally on other parts 

 of the Coast nearly as far S. as Cape Comorin. 



3. I experienced a violent Hail Storm in 1845 while travelling 

 across the Cardamom tablelands of Travancore in lat. 9° 45' S. 

 hail having fallen on the very same day at Ootacamund on the 

 Neilgherries 80 miles N. W. as (Captain Horsley of the Engineers 

 informed me) also on the Pulney mountains about 50 miles N. E. ; 

 on the Sirroo Mullays near Madura, as well as in the Palghat 

 opening at Chittoor and other places, all forming one continuous 

 line from S. E. to N. W. 



4. Hail Storms are also, I understand, of frequent occurrence 

 on the Table lands of the Colungode mountains forming the South- 

 ern wall of the Palghat opening ; also on Uttree Mullay in the 

 chain of Ghats in the latitude of Trevandrum 8° 28' S. in the 

 months of March, April, and May ; and during the present year 

 Hail fell at numerous villages in the low country of Travancore 

 from Thodawully in latitude 9° 55' to Coolatoray in latitude 8° 20', 

 all the localities being from 10 to 20 miles or more inland but 

 nowhere 200 feet above the Sea. 



