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Arctic zone ; possessing lofty mountains, elevated table-lands, • 
alluvial valleys, desert tracts, and plains ; noble rivers, ex- 
tensive swamps, jungles, and magnificent forests ; it lias 
characters that invest it with peculiar interest for the me- 
teorologist; for, as Mr. Blanford says, “it offers peculiar 
advantages for the study of meteorology, exhibiting at 
opposite seasons of the year an almost complete reversal of 
the wind system and of the meteorological conditions de- 
pending on it. Its almost complete isolation, in a meteoro- 
logical point of view, from the rest of the Asiatic continent 
by the great mountain-chain along its northern border 
simplifies to a degree almost unknown elsewhere the con- 
ditions to be contrasted, by limiting them to those of the 
region itself and the seas around. India also presents in its 
different parts extreme modification of climate and geographical 
feature. In its hill stations it affords the means of gauging 
the condition of the atmosphere at permanent observatories 
up to a height of 8,000 feet. The periodical variations of 
temperature, vapour, tension, and pressure, both annual and 
diurnal, are strongly marked and regular ; and these changes 
proceed so gradually that the concurrence and inter-depend- 
ence of these several phases can be traced out with precision.” 
As regards climate, India may be divided into : — 1. Hima- 
layan, including Bhotan, Nepal, Gurhwal, Cashmere, and 
Cabul. 2. Hindostan, which extends along the foot of the 
Himalayan range, and includes the alluvial plains of the great 
rivers Ganges and Indus, with their numerous tributaries, as 
far south as the Yindyah mountains. 3. Southern India, or 
the Deccan, which consists of elevated table-lands, littoral 
plains intersected by numerous rivers, mountain ranges, and 
isolated hills. The Aravulli and Chittore hills, the Yindyah 
chain, rising to over 2,000 feet, covered with forest vegetation, 
with its off-set the Satpooras, traverse the continent connect- 
ing the Eastern and the Western Ghats.” 
The rainfall varies according to latitude, elevation, and 
physical characters of the country, Northern India being 
less influenced than the Deccan by the south-west monsoon. 
The climates also vary ; but in the plains of Hindoostan and 
the table-lands of the Deccan, the heat is intense, though 
often greatly modified by moisture. The effects of a dry or 
damp atmosphere at the same temperature, however, are very 
different. Dry air, in motion, at a temperature of 100°, is more 
tolerable than stagnant air loaded with moisture at 80°. 
The hot dry winds of Northern India are more endurable than 
the cooler but saturated atmosphere of Lower Bengal or parts 
of Southern India. 
