[ 2°S ] 
THE rains at Bengal generally fet in between the i ft 
and 1 5th of June, and continne till the middle of 061 c- 
ber, when it remains fair till February, the wind blow- 
ing moftly from the N.E. quarter, in which month and 
.March it is interrupted by the N.W. fqualls, attended 
with violent gufts of wind, thunder, and lightning, wdth 
fliort, but exceflive hard, fliowers of rain or hail, com- 
,monly one, but rarely two, in each day. From the mid- 
dle of March to the middle of June the weather is very 
hot. At Allahabad and the upper country the rains 
are not expecfted till the 20th of June, and feldom ex- 
ceed the 30th, excepting in extraordinary feafons, 
when it has been known to keep off till the 5 th of July ; 
but fuch an event is ufually attended with a great mor- 
tality both of men and beafts. They break up about the 
middle of September, and from this time to the begin- 
ning of January it continues fair cold weather. In Ja- 
nuary there are, almoft always, a few days rain, fekloni 
more than a week, and that gentle and pleafant, which 
is produ 61 ive of a fecond crop, which they ufually reap. 
The winds at Allahabad fet in Eafterly from the begin- 
ning of the rains, and blow almoft conftantly from that 
quarter until the conclulion of the cold weather in 
March, when it changes more Northerly, and is attended 
by violent North-weft fqualls of thunder, lightning, rain, 
and hail, at which time it changes to the Weft, blowing 
with violence, and a heat which frequently deftroys the 
birds and beafts in the fields, till the rains afford a re- 
lief. 
