4 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. XXXVIII. 
opinion, have obtained a very different result. It is 
evident that all depends upon the meaning of the ex- 
pression, tropical rain. If it imply a very copious 
fall of rain, Kiikawa certainly does not lie within the 
limit of tropical rain ; but if we are to understand by 
it the regularly returning annual fall of rain, pro- 
duced by the ascending currents of heated air, it 
certainly does.* There was a very heavy fall of 
rain on the night of the 3rd of August, which not 
only swamped our courtyard, but changed my room, 
which lay half a foot lower, and was protected only by 
a low threshold, into a little lake, aggravating my 
feverish state very considerably, and spoiling most 
of my things. 
On the 5th of August rain fell for the first time 
unaccompanied by a storm, though the rainy season 
in general sets in with dreadful tornadoes. The 
watery element disturbed the luxurious existence of 
the " kanam galgalma," the large termites, which had 
fed on our sugar and other supplies, and on the 6th 
they all of a sudden disappeared from the ground, and 
filled the air as short-lived winged creatures, in which 
state they are called by the people u tsiitsu," or 
" dsiidsu," and, when fried, are used as food. Their 
* It will perhaps be as well to call to mind the prudent warn- 
ing of Col. Sykes, in reference to the observations of Prof. Dove. 
" These observations," he says, " suggest to us the necessity of 
caution in generalizing from local facts with regard to tempera- 
tures and falls of rain." — Report of the National Association, 
1852, p. 253. 
