362 
LIEUT.-COLONEL SYKES’S DISCUSSION OF METEOROLOGICAL 
while a few miles from Cape Comorin the annual supply amounts to 113 inches; and 
in the latitude of Bombay it does not fall below a mean of 76‘82 inches for the mon- 
soon alone, but proceeding along the coast northwards the supply further diminishes, 
or becomes irregular and uncertain in quantity, and at the mouths of the Indus 
almost disappears. Along the Coromandel coast the N.E. monsoon does not appear 
to supply much more than one-half of the fall on the Malabar coast, the mean of 
twenty-two years at Madras being 44*57 inches, the quantity slightly increasing with 
the latitude from Cape Comorin. Another marked feature is the greatly increased 
fall of rain with the increased elevation above the sea-level of the place of observa- 
tion up to a certain height, beyond which the quantity of rain gradually diminishes 
as the place of observation is more elevated ; at least such are the indications in the 
tract of land which lies between the sea-shore and the base of the Ghats between Cape 
Comorin and Goozerat, and along the western face of the Ghats themselves. The ob- 
servation does not hold good however on the elevated lands to the eastward of the 
crest of the Bombay and Malabar Ghats. Along the sea-coast the falls vary from 
28*35 inches at Cape Comorin to 113*26 inches at Allepy, but increase at stations 
nearing the Ghats at different elevations to more than 300 inches at 4500 feet, and 
above that height the falls gradually diminish in quantity. For instance, the 
inches. 
Mean of seven stations at sea-level, western coast, is 81*70 
At 150 feet, Rutnagherry, in the Konkun 114*55 
At 900 feet, Dapoolee, Southern Konkun 134*96 
At 1740 feet, Kundalla, the pass from Bombay to Poona. . . . 141*59 
At 4500 feet, Mahabuleshwur, means of fifteen years 254*05 
At 4500 feet, Mercara in Coorg, means of three years 143*35 
At 4500 feet, Uttray Mullay*, in Travancore, means of two years . 263*21 
At 6100 feet, Kotergherry, on the Neelgherries, one year . . . . 81*71 
At 8640 feet, Dodabetta, highest point of Western India, one year 101*24 
Hence the elevation of the line of maximum fall would appear to be about 4500 feet, 
and above this level the supply of rain is diminished ; Mahabuleshwur, Mercara and 
Uttray Mullay, although differing greatly in latitude, lie nearly in the same meridian, 
and are all at the same elevation. The comparative small fall at Mercara is ac- 
counted for by the fact of its not being so near the western scarp of the Ghats as 
Mahabuleshwur and Uttray Mullay, and the effect of a station being placed a few 
* Since the above was written I have received a letter from General Cullen, dated Trevandrum, 6th of 
January 1850, giving an account of the fall of rain for 1849 at the Uttray Mullay range. 
inches. 
At 500 feet, base of range 99 
At 2200 feet, Attagherry 170 
At 4500 feet, Uttray Mullay 240 
At 6200 feet, Agusta Peak 194 
Showing at 6200 feet a fall of 46 inches less of rain than at 4500 feet. 
