1837] 



Meteorology of the Goomsoor Mountains* 



295 



IV. — Meteorological Experiments made on the Goomsoor Mountains. — 

 By Lieut. John Campbell, Assistant Surveyor General, 



These observations are, from the want of leisure and from the in- 

 conveniences of a moving camp, necessarily very imperfect, but, in 

 the absence of better, they are offered to the public, for the pur- 

 pose of shewing the approximate height of the hilly tract west of 

 Goomsoor, and in the hopes they may be of some use in shewing the 

 relation between the wet bulb thermometer and the dew point ; but 

 no inferences on this subject have been attempted, in consequence of 

 my not having seen Professor Apjohn's formula for this purpose ; and 

 on this account some preparatory observations, made with the instru- 

 ment at different places in the Northern. Circars,, have been added to 

 the register. 



The hilly ranges of Goomsoor form part of an elevated tract of 

 mountainous country, which extends from Gundipoor and Battily on 

 the Calingapatam river, on the south, up to the Mahanuddy on the 

 north. Their average distance from the sea is about thirty or forty 

 miles, and they extend inland in width about sixty miles, where they 

 meet the plains of the Sompore, Potanalkaulahunchy, and Jeypore 

 countries. The extreme elevation is 2,500 feet above the sea; the 

 lowest 2,000 feet. 



In the south they are inhabited by a race of men called Sowrahs> 

 in the north by the Khonds : these races in manners and habits 

 are much the same, and both are distinguished by a peculiar pectoral 

 mode of enunciating, although the language of both is quite different. 

 The average height of the hills above the diluvial soil which fills up 

 the valleys between them is about 1,500 feet, they are composed of 

 granitic, trap, and porphyritic rocks, and are generally but scantily 

 covered with jungle. 



During the time the observations were made the climate was in 

 general pretty healthy, and although sometimes the dew point under- 

 went great alterations, yet it was commonly pretty regular ; although 

 it was found that, before the dew in the morning had been dissipated 

 by the sun's rays, the hygrometer commonly gave the dew point two 

 or three degrees too low. 



The thermometer used was a small one of a six inch scale by Dol- 

 lond, which agreed pretty well with the thermometer in the stem of 

 the hygrometer by Newman. The wet thermometer was a small one 

 taken out of the ball of a Daniel's hygrometer by Jones, and the bulb 



