456 
ON THE MEDIftAL TOPOGRAPHY OF SINGAPORE. 
Penang plain, 166 on the Flag-staff hill, and 22S in Province Wel¬ 
lesley, the quantity at each station being 
on Flag-staff hill. 116 10 inches 
5 
Penang plain. 65 jq ,, 
Province Wellesley.. 70 
Which observations differ from the generality of observations in 
England, where more rain falls on the plain than on the elevations 
in as circumscribed a locality as the Island of Pinang.'f 
These two authorities shew a great difference in the Hygrometrical 
state of the atmosphere of Pinang compared to the situations which 
have been the means of furnishing the observations of the Journal 
de Physique : it may therefore be remarked that if Pinang shews 
such a number of rainy days, Singapore will not shew less ; nay, it 
is thought by all who are well acquainted with the two settlements, 
that Singapore has more frequent showers, but perhaps, a less given 
quantity of rain, at all events there are not the number, nor length¬ 
ened draughts that Pinang is subject to; I am sorry I am unable to 
give any tables from my own observations or from that of others, 
shewing the number of rainy days during the period that the other 
meteorological tables were taken ; but I am told by a gentleman who 
keeps a private Journal that in the 5 last months of 1847 there 
were 130 rainy days. This amount of rainy weather is much be¬ 
yond what is usual, 1847 having been almost unprecedented for its 
wetness. I am indebted to the Madras Quarterly Medical Journal 
for 1839 quoted by the India Journal, for the following extract by 
an anonymous contributor. 
i( In a place little more than 80 miles from the equator there is 
of course very little variety in the seasons. The greatest quantity 
of rain falls in December and January; but refreshing showers are 
experienced throughout the year; in 1820 rain fell in 229 days, in 
* Dr. Wards contributions quoted by the Editor of the Journal of Indian 
Archipelago p. 108. 
-J- The insulated mountain chain of Pinang, covered with dense forest 
for the most part, rises abruptly from the plain, and possesses all the 
cloud attracting and cloud producing properties which render the cli¬ 
mate of mountains in general more rainy than that of the plains at their 
feet, Ed, 
