MR. H. E. BLANEORD ON THE WINDS OE NORTHERN INDIA. 
601 
borders of Rajpootana, in the cold weather as" at other seasons; and on the lower parts 
of the hills (Dehra, Kangra) they are very copious. On the south of the Gangetic 
plain they are felt at Ajmere, Jhansi, and in. the Central Provinces, but not further 
westward. Even at Mahableshwar the mean fall from December to March does not 
amount to half an inch, and at Bombay from December to April to less than a quarter 
of an inch on the mean of twenty-three years. 
The spring or hot-weather rains prevail over all that region over which sea-winds set 
in from the Bay of Bengal at an early period of the year. In Assam and Eastern Bengal 
showers are pretty frequent in March or even February, and in April the rainfall is 
pretty general and copious. In Cachar and Sylhet in this latter month it amounts to 
12 or 14 inches, and at Seebsaugor and Nazeerah, in Upper Assam, it is between 9 and 
10 inches on an average. Lower down the Assam valley it is lighter, viz. 6 or 7 inches 
between Tezpore and Gowhatty, and at Goalpara but little more than 5 inches. Simi- 
larly on the eastern margin of the Gangetic delta it is less than in Cachar and Sylhet, 
viz. 8*3 inches at Comillah (Tipperah), 4 inches at Noakhally, and 5 at Chittagong. In 
the western part of the delta it amounts to between 2 and 3 inches (except on the coast- 
line, where it is heavier). These rains are felt as occasional thunder-storms, known as 
north-wester s, as far inland as Nagpore ; and also in Behar and in the western half of the 
delta much is received in this form. 
The spring rains have no very definite termination, even in Western Bengal; but 
generally a fortnight or three weeks of hot dry weather precedes the setting in of the 
monsoon rains. The break of the monsoon is further marked by a change in the general 
direction of the wind, and seems therefore to be a phenomenon of a distinct character — 
something more than a mere increase in the force and regularity of the sea-winds which 
bring the spring rains above described. In Lower Bengal, Orissa, and the Central Pro- 
vinces the change consists in a shifting of the wind to the westward; in the Gangetic 
plains to the setting in of east or south-east winds. In Assam and Cachar, however, no 
change of the kind takes place ; from February or March the rainfall increases rapidly 
and steadily up to June, and then decreases gradually to the end of the south-west 
monsoon. But on the Arakan coast, and on the Sikkim Himalaya, the commencement 
of the rains is more definite, and occurs three weeks or a month earlier than on the 
western part of the delta. 
In Lower Bengal and Orissa the rains begin on an average in the first or second week 
in June, and the fall averages from 9 to 15 inches in that month : in the neighbourhood 
of the hills, both on the east and north, it is much heavier. They reach the North- 
western Provinces later, and at Agra and Delhi the mean fall in this month does not 
exceed 1 or 2 inches. In Bombay they set in about the same time as in the Gangetic 
delta, and in the Central Provinces a week or so later; but in Rajpootana there is little 
rain till the following month. In the Punjab the rains are much lighter than elsewhere 
(except in Sind and the Bikaneer desert, which latter is rainless, or nearly so). They 
