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ME. H. F. BLANFOED ON THE WINDS OF NOETHEEN INDIA. 
In Upper Assam, indeed, all the seasons are less strongly characterized than in 
Northern India. Here, as in the temperate zone, the heat increases gradually and 
uniformly up to July, and from June to September remains about 4° above that of the 
delta. Even at Goalpara, at the mouth of the valley, no fall of temperature results 
from the burst of the monsoon rains ; but a steady rise of 1° per month after April brings 
the mean temperature up to between 82° and 83° in July and August, and is followed 
by an equally steady fall till October. In Assam the hot season, as understood in 
Northern India, is unknown. 
The progressive fall of temperature in Northern India, as the monsoon rains advance, 
on the one hand from the Arabian Sea, and on the other from the Bay of Bengal, is 
very clearly shown in the chart for July (Plate XL VI.). The greater part of Central 
India and the whole of the Lower Provinces, together with Lower Assam and Cachar, 
have now a mean temperature below 85°. But the Punjab and the Bikaneer desert still 
range above 90°. The highest temperature is that of Rawul Pindee, where the fall from 
June amounts only to 2^°. 
From July to October (Plates XLVI. & XLVII.) the temperature gradually declines, 
in such measure that by the end of September or the beginning of October it is nearly 
equalized over Northern India. In the Central Provinces, indeed, and in Rajpootana, 
also at Calcutta and some other stations in Bengal, there is a slight rise of temperature 
in September just before the rapid fall sets in. 
To sum up the above facts briefly. The distribution of temperature in Northern 
India presents three very distinct phases, corresponding to the three seasons already 
defined. In the cold weather two loci of minimum temperature are situated in the 
Punjab and Upper Assam, and there is a secondary locus of abnormally low temperature, 
extending apparently from Bareilly to Benares. With this exception the general course 
of the isothermals conforms more nearly to the parallels of latitude than at any other 
season. 
In the hot weather a temperature focus is found in Central India, and the uplands 
and plateaux south of the Ganges and eastward from the Sahyadree mountains have a 
temperature considerably higher than that of the Gangetic plain, the maritime belt, or 
the surrounding seas. The Upper Punjab and Upper Assam are still the coolest parts 
of our area. 
Finally, in the rains, the Punjab is the seat of the highest temperature, and Upper 
Assam, though much lower, nevertheless ranges above Bengal. The coolest regions are 
those where the rains are most copious, and consist of two tracts extending inland from 
the coasts of Bombay and Bengal respectively, in the course of the monsoon currents. 
To complete this discussion, it remains to consider the distribution of temperature in 
a vertical direction at different seasons of the year. The only available evidence bearing 
on this subject is that afforded by the hill-stations, of which the best are Darjeeling, at 
6941 feet, with Goalpara 386 feet, as a reference station, and Chuckrata at 6884 feet, 
which may be compared with Boorkee at 880 feet — the former illustrating the damp 
