346 



The Meteorology of the Plains 



[April 



The climate of many places in low latitudes lias been ascertained, 

 but of these we can only slate the mean temperatures : as of places in 

 Ceylon, from lat. 6^ to 8^°; of Point de Galle, 81° 10'; of Colombo, 

 80° 75' ; and of Trincomalee, 80° 56' ; while the temperalure of Ma- 

 dras, in lat. 13° 5', has been ascertained, by numerous observations, to 

 be 80° 42'. Pondicherry, on the dry and hot part of the Coromandel 

 Coast, and in N. lat. 11° 55', has the highest observed mean tempera- 

 ture, this having been found to be 85° 28'. Seringapatam, in lat. 12° 

 45' N. long. 76° 51' E., and elevated about 2,412 feet above the level 

 of the sea, has a mean temperature of 77° 06' ; the mean at sunrise is 

 63° 17'; at 3 p. m., 90° 95'; of the day, 84°; of the night, 70° 11'; 

 the highest temperature observed was 115°, and the lowest 48°. At 

 Bangalore, the mean temperature is about 74° 39'. 



My friend Mr. James Prinsep, whose lamented illness all friends of 

 science and of literature equally deplore, published, in the year 1832, 

 the results of my observations, and as he has united them with others, 

 I give his tables for the sake of comparison. 



The whole presents a convenient epitome of meteorological phe- 

 nomena between 12° and 30° of north latitude. Of the climate of 

 Madras, the minutest details are recorded in the voluminous and care- 

 ful reports of the late astronomer, Mr. Goldingham, whose results 

 merely required to be reduced to the freezing point. The Ava tables 

 are abstracted from Major Burney's Registers, published in the * Glean- 

 ings ;' the Benares tables are taken from the Oriental Magazine, 1820; 

 for the Saharunpore results we are indebted to Dr. Royle, who allowed 

 ns to look through his copious registers for the purpose. As the several 

 barometers were never absolutely compared together, entire dependence 

 cannot be placed upon the mean altitudes given ; but with regard to 

 Calcutta, Benares, and Saharunpore, as some opportunities occurred of 

 comparison through the instruments of different travellers, the relative 

 altitude of these places can be estimated tolerably well : thus, Saharun- 

 pore will be found to be almost exactly one thousand feet above the sea, 

 as was before estimated by Captain Hodgson, Benares, in like man- 

 ner, may be safely stated, in even numbers, to be three hundred feet 

 above the sea. 



