576 
ME. H. F. BLANFOED ON THE WINDS OF NOETHEEN INDIA. 
striking features from any yet described. The land-winds from north and north-west 
are here quite of subordinate importance; and a great predominance of those from 
south-west and south blowing along the shore, or obliquely from the Bay towards the 
hilly country of the interior, characterizes Orissa and the Northern Circars. At both 
the above stations, winds from between north and north-east set in as early as October, 
and with the increasing cold of the interior and strengthening of the land-winds they 
become more northerly in the two following months. At False Point, indeed, they 
maintain a marked ascendency till the end of January, veering back, however, towards 
north-east and east ; but at Cuttack the veering proceeds further, and sea-winds from 
east and south-east predominate in this month. In February south-west winds gain 
the ascendant at False Point, and south winds at Cuttack, a difference of about four- 
points between the two stations being maintained throughout the hot weather and 
rainy months. With the increase of temperature in the interior, south winds at Cuttack 
and south-west winds at False Point increase in steadiness, backing through one or two 
points up to May. In June, with the setting in of the rains in Bengal; the veering 
again becomes normal, i. e. the westing increases, and this tendency is maintained till 
the month of August. In September the south-west monsoon slackens, and the wind 
once more backs rapidly through south-east and east to north-east in the month of 
October. 
At False Point, as at most coast-stations, calms are of rare occurrence. In October, 
the month of their greatest frequency, they amount to only 11 per cent, of the obser- 
vations, while in May none are recorded. They are somewhat more frequent in the 
cold weather than the rains, and least so in the hot-weather months. This appears to 
be a universal rule in Northern India. At Cuttack, to judge from one year’s register, 
they are common in the cold weather, and in accordance therewith the mean velocity of 
the wind is low. The summarized register for a part of the two years 1871-72 will 
serve to correct the deficiencies of those of the longer period. 
Gangetic Delta . — The delta of the Ganges may be regarded as the northern end of 
the great wedge-shaped depression occupied by the Bay of Bengal. This arm of the 
ocean affords an unobstructed channel to the interchanging air-currents between the 
equatorial seas and the plains of Upper India. The delta lies, so to speak, in the neck 
of the funnel formed by the converging coasts of the two peninsulas — that on the east 
being bordered by a continuous mountain-range, the Arakan Yoma, not less than 4000 
or 5000 feet in height ; that on the west bordered also by hills, more broken indeed, 
and of much less mean elevation, but still opposing a certain barrier to the free passage 
of the winds to and from the interior of the peninsula. At the upper end of the Bay 
these hill-tracts advance to within 200 miles of each other, enclosing between them the 
united deltas of the Ganges and Brahmapootra ; and further inland the advanced plateau 
of the Garo hills constricts the plain to a width of 150 miles, allowing free access to 
the plains of the Upper Provinces, but almost entirely obstructing the entrance of the 
narrow valley of Assam. 
