OBSERVATIONS TAKEN IN INDIA, 
299 
India, that run parallel to the sea-coast from latitude 24° — 25° to Cape Comorin. 
This range of mountains rise abruptly above the western coast of India, and the 
watershed from them is almost entirely to the Coromandel or eastern coast of the 
Peninsula of India. The aqueous vapours from the ocean are condensed on these 
mountains, and as Dodabetta is within the influence of both the south-west and 
north-east monsoons, it would appear to be favoured with rain in every month in 
the year. The observations were taken by an assistant of the Madras Observatory, 
John De Cruz ; and as the instruments had been selected by the astronomer, Mr. 
Taylor, and every precaution taken to ensure accuracy in the observations, there is 
every reason to suppose they are worthy of confidence. To determine the pressure 
of the atmosphere, observations were taken only twice in the day at the supposed 
hours of maxima and minima ; namely. O'* AO^a.m. and 3'* 40™p.m., excepting on the 
21st and 22nd of each month, when the observations were taken hourly for twenty- 
four consecutive hours. 
With respect to the daily oscillation of the barometer the following Tables are 
given, and the records show, that, as in my observations in the Deccan, there is not at 
this great elevation a single day throughout the whole year in which the pressure at 
3 h 4 QS p jg higher than at 9'’ 40® a.m., and there is but a solitary instance in which 
the pressure at the two hours is identical. On the 15th of August the barometer 
is recorded as standing at 21°'952 at 9'’ 40'”a.m., and at21°‘952 at 40™ p.m. ; but as 
there is not an approximation to anything similar in the preceding or following days, 
it may be questioned whether this supposed suspension of the atmospheric tide may 
not be a typographical error, that might well be excused in a multitude of figures. 
As these observations taken at such a height are the fiist of the kind recorded in 
India, I have thought it right to append them in extenso ; at least for pressure and 
temperature, and wet bulb depression*. 
* While this paper is passing through the press, Lieut. R. Steachey of the Bengal Engineers is arrived 
in England from his travels in the Himalayas and Thibet. He made some hourly observations of the barometer 
at an elevation of 18,400, at 16,000, and at 11,500 feet, and found that the horary oscillations or atmospheric 
tides were as regular as on the plains of Hindoostan, and the hours of maxima and minima were the same. 
Meteorological observations made by Lieut. R. Steachey on Lunjar Mountain in Thibet (lat. 31° 2' north) at 
an elevation of 18,400 feet above the sea, August 22nd and 23rd, 1849. 
Date, 
Hour. 
Bar. at 32°. 
Air. 
Wet bulb. 
Date. 
Hour. 
Bar. at 32°. 
Air. 
Wet. bulb. 
Aug. 22. 
Aug. 23. 
P.M. 
h m 
2 0 
4 30 
5 0 
6 0 
7 0 
8 0 
9 0 
10 0 
11 0 
midnight. 
1 15 
2 0 
3 0 
in. 
15-374 
•355 
•355 
•362 
•369 
•396 
•410 
•412 
•414 
•394 
•399 
•395 
•383 
45-0 
48-7 
42-7 
37-7 
31-5 
34-0 
33-6 
330 
320 
31-7 
310 
30-7 
29-7 
37-7 
37-8 
36-2 
35-5 
29-9 
29-5 
28-9 
28-5 
26- 7 
27- 7 
25-25 
27-4 
27-6 
Moderate wind and a few light clouds. 
Moderate wind and a few light clouds. 
Moderate wind and a few light clouds. 
Moderate wind and a few light clouds. 
Wind light. 
Wind light. 
Calm, clear. 
Calm, clear. 
Calm, clear. 
Calm, clear. 
Calm, clear. 
Calm, clear. 
Calm, clear. 
Aug. 23. 
P.M. 
h m 
4 0 
5 0 
6 0 
7 0 
8 0 
9 0 
10 0 
11 0 
noon. 
1 0 
1 30 
2 0 
3 0 
in. 
15-381 
•389 
•393 
•397 
•405 
•420 
•424 
•421 
•415 
•407 
•404 
•397 
•387 
290 
290 
28-0 
33-0 
360 
39-8 
44-9 
56-2 
560 
56-9 
491 
46-5 
24-3 
24-5 
26-5 
32-8 
35-8 
31-75 
35- 5 
46-5 
40-2 
40-9 
37-15 
36- 5 
Calm, clear. 
Calm, clear. 
Sunrise. 
Calm and clear. 
Calm and clear. 
Calm and clear. 
Lightwinds, S.E.,few clouds. 
Wind increasing, also clouds. 
Strong wind and more cloudy. 
2 Q 2 
