CHAPTER IV 
CLIMATE 
In the course of recent years accurate observation of 
temperature and rainfall have been taken at different 
points of the coast. In Antananarivo, on the plateau of 
Imerina, the French missionaries erected an observatory 
fitted with all necessary apparatus, and they publish their 
meteorological observations regularly, so that we are 
tolerably well informed of the climatic conditions. The 
observatory was unfortunately destroyed during the late 
war, but is to be set up again. 
The position of the island in connexion with the influence 
of the trade wind determines the general character of the 
climate, and stress must be laid on the fact that marked 
differences are exhibited in the different coast regions, 
the influence of elevation naturally making itself felt. 
Let us commence with the eastern coast as being that 
most frequently visited. There is here no dry season proper, 
as rain falls through almost the whole year. The months 
of September, October and November have the lowest 
rainfall. The sailors say of Ste. Marie, that the island 
is never seen except in rain, and indeed the amount of rain 
annually is tolerably high (ii6 inches). 
The month of maximum rainfall is January (i6*i inches), 
the minimum is in September (3 inches). 
Tamatave, with a mean annual temperature of 74*8° F., 
is still richer in rain. The annual rainfall, as we learn 
from the Revue Scientifique^ attains 158-8 inches, and 
even October, the driest month, has 5-1 inches. The 
prevailing wind is from the south (66 per cent); then come 
