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which the first begins about the 13th of June; far less can four months be counted in the Upper Provinces between the first and the last shower. Yet is 'Chowmasa' a term for the rains, in the whole of the Bengal provinces. The rains of the first and fourth month are more scanty and uncertain than of the second and third. The second again is more rainy than the third, and its rains more seldom fail; it begins about the 13th of July. Places in the same longitude have more or less rain, according to their proximity to the great northern hills. This rule, however, does not extend to all places, for those which are near hills of considerable height within India itself, receive from that circumstance more copious rains. It is thus the province of Kuttack is more rainy than even the neighbourhood of Calcutta. Very many places in the Marhatta territories and the Dukhan are far more rainy than those in corresponding longitudes within our Upper Provinces. When other circumstances are equal, the number of inches of water which fall in the year diminishes in proportion as we recede from the sea. Hence Jodhpoor and Oodeepoor have more rains than Beekaneer or Jypoor.

69. The rains of Hindoostan extend to certain points in these countries, and their periods and quantities are according to the laws just mentioned. The rains of Lahour are later, and less than those of Delhi. Those of Pothwar are still more so, and only the two middle months are relied on. One heavy shower in the month of September is of the utmost importance to their crops, but in some years is longed for in vain. In Peshawur only the second month of the rains remains; nay, some seasons pass in which all are denied. The husbandman, however, sows in expectation of the rain of Sawun. From Peshawur we trace the rains to a termination in Lughman and Jellalabad, where they dwindle to a few showers. It thus appears that

they diminish in our progress westward. But this rule is modified by others. Pukhlee, upper Sward, Punjkora, and Bajour, of which the two last are more west in longitude than Peshawur, have, as being hilly or near hills, much more rain than that place. Kushmeer lying to the east of all these has yet but a few showers, for the mountains to the south shut out the rains in this quarter, though we find by Captain Turner's account, that they have not this effect in the part of Tibet he visited. Barah-Moola, lying in the narrow pass leading to Kushmeer from the west, not only has a portion of the great rains, but showers in all the months in the year. Teera enjoys the four months of rain, but the showers are light. It is even said that it rains every day of the year in some part of the plains or the vallies of Teera. To the north the

great chain of mountains does not allow the rains to fall in Kashkur, but the country of the Kafeis has an equal share with Bajour.

70. We have thus traced the summer rains in the high latitudes. In the middle latitudes they extend to all the sources of the river Koorm, being here diminished in duration to less than one month. These showers are generally severe, and important to the agriculture of the country. By the Afghans they are called, 'Vuse,' a term plainly of Indian origin. In latitudes still more southerly it is difficult to lay down the limits. The 'Vuse' certainly does not reach Candahar, but is sufficiently regular at Zhob of the Kakurs. It is said to reach Kilat of the Beeloches, but is not there the chief rain. Nay, it is by one person asserted to be known as far west as Punjgoor. This is rendered incredible by adverting that that place is not very distant from the sea. Natives of Persia assure us that in most seasons there is a heavy fall of rain in the month of August in the province of Laristan; and I presume this is equally true of the coast of Kirman. It is probably the neighbourhood of the sea which gives to lower Sindh a rainy season of greater length than the upper, and perhaps not greatly inferior to that of the upper Punjab, yet has it been known in some years to fail, but the circumstance is of little importance to agriculture. Mooltan, distant at once from the sea and from the mountains, has very little remaining of the rains, less than any part, it is probable, of Sindh or Seeweestan, or the Daman and Makalwad, though lying to the west. Buhwulpoor has more rain than Mooltan. The rains of Beekaneer are somewhat uncertain and scanty, for a country situated on this side the desert. Showers sometimes fall in Seestan during the summer, but they are unconnected with the rains of India.

71. In the Bengal provinces next in importance to the grand summer rains, are the showers which fall in the winter. By the natives this rain is called 'Muhawut,' because the greater part fall in the Hinduwee month Magh, which on an average of seasons begins on the 13th of January. The farmers in what is called the Puharturee, or the tract of country lying at the foot of the great northern mountains, do not even water their rubbee crops, but trust to this rain, which however in some years fails, even there and in many parts of the plains more distant from the hills. The Muhawut extends from our provinces as far as Jodhpoor; but with respect to many parts of India I do not possess information as to whether it occurs or not. Part of the rainy monsoon of the Coromandel Coast coincides in time with it, but far exceeds it in quantity and importance. In the season 1808-9 it failed in our Upper Provinces in general, a circumstance productive of great

loss to the former. Neither did it occur in or near any place where the Mission was, that is between Beekaneer and Dera-Ismael Khan, but in those latter countries the want of it is productive of little or no inconvenience.

72. In the same season it fell abundantly in Peshawur, a province where a great proportion of the rubbee depends upon it; and all the countries now treated of, with the exception to be mentioned, enjoy it with tolerable regularity. It falls according to circumstances in the form of rain, sleet, or snow; and with respect to the time it may be expected, the chief showers are (as in England) rather in the second than the first half of winter. Although the time varies in different years, it is seldom that it fails altogether. The consequence of such a failure is dearth, sometimes famine. Where it used to fall as rain, the crops die from drought, or are killed by the severity of the frost that usually accompanies dry winters; where it used to fall as snow, the crops wanting this protection are exposed to the frost, and the hopes of the spring which partly rested on the melting of the snows in the hills are disappointed. There is a favorite proverb in Cabul, "let Cabul be filled with snow rather than gold." The quantity which falls is very various, according to season and places. The highest and most mountainous places appear to receive most, but this rule alone does not comprehend all cases. In Cabul the number of snowy days in the three months of winter is computed at sixteen. If we may form any judgment from the hints given us in Forster's Journal, this is more than occurs in Khoorasan. In the Punjab this rain is certainly of much inferior importance, perhaps it is of inferior amount, and less certain in its periodical return. But that quarter where it is most uncertain and most insignificant, is the same in which the summer rains are so scanty, and in which the Mission spent the depth of the winter 1808-9 (see paragraphs 70 and 71) being Mooltan, and a certain distance around it. In the Daman this rain is sufficiently regular, and of great importance. In nether Sindh, although of very little importance, it falls in most years. It may be observed that it extends far beyond the limits of the present field, to the Hellespont and the Russian frontier. The same is the chief rain in the north-west of Arabia. In none of the intermediate countries, whether cold or warm, is it lost. It is said to be but scanty in Yarkund, but with respect to many other parts of Chinese Toorkistan we possess little information on this, or most other particulars.

73. The third rain we may distinguish, is that of the spring. It is perhaps the most important of the whole in the countries lying west

of the Indoor, north of its sources; in all of which it is confidently expected, and fails only in the most calamitous seasons or peculiar situations. In the neighbourhood of Candahar indeed, and the country of the Tureens, it is said to be but scanty, and little rain is looked for after the vernal equinox. The falls of snow and rain in the winter are in these places their chief dependance for the success of such crops as are not artificially watered. The spring falls are not confined to the countries under our view, but north and west, extend to the east coast of Arabia, a part at least of Syria, the Hellespont and Euxine, and the Russian frontiers; towards India we find them tolerably regular in the middle and lower Sindh, but in the latter they are the less regarded, as they are of little use to agriculture, and in quantity inferior to those of the summer. In the upper Sindh and in Mooltan respectively, the summer and spring rains are perhaps equal. In the year 1809, some considerable spring showers fell in Mooltan, but in ordinary seasons this, like the preceding rains, is there but scanty and uncertain. In Peshawur, Kohat, Malgun, Fesakhel, and Bunnoo the spring is the chief rain of the year, the same is true of Chhuchh, Huzara, Kushmeer, and perhaps Bukhlee, but in Poth war it is exceeded by the summer rain. We have seen that the latter diminishes as we proceed westwards. The spring rains, on the contrary, diminish as we proceed eastwards from Peshawur. This law however is modified by others; and those of Kushmeer, as being a country embosomed in hills, are more abundant than those of Peshawur. It is difficult to fix the eastern limits of this rain. Within the great northern mountains, and to a certain distance from their foot, it seems to extend in ordinary seasons even to the banks of the Burmphootr, but in the plains of India nothing remains of it but some thunder-storms accompanied with showers.

74. Within the limits in which it is regular it is more or less copious, according to the season and place. Cabul receives more than Peshawur or most parts of Khoorasan, and Fyzabad more than Cabul. In Budukhshan, Durwaz, Keerategin, and the east of Toorkistan it is very abundant, but in Yarkund very scanty. In different places as well as in different seasons, there is some diversity in the season of this rain, but it would be tedious to enumerate instances. In general most rain falls in the month of March, but in some cases the heaviest showers are at the end of February or month of April; rain in the month of May in most of these countries is not to be considered as part of the spring rains, but rather as accidental, and indeed unwelcome. In May 1806, there fell in Cabul a heavy rain which did much damage. Where

Rain in the summer is much

fruits are cultivated to a great extent. deprecated, yet in some parts of Toorkistan showers are neither uncommon nor unwelcome even in the end of May. Generally speaking, May is a dry month in the countries under our view. June too is dry, and where the rains of Hindoostan extend, the hottest. The heat declines in August in both descriptions of countries. August is in Peshawur a cloudy month, not a rainy, and is dry in all the countries west of the Indus, as is September. October is a dry month both in India and in these countries. In high and mountainous situations snow begins to fall in November, but the chief showers are in December and January.

75. Dews and mists are often little less important to the husbandman than rains. They do not here attract much attention. They are commonest in the autumnal months, or the beginning of winter, and in the warm countries especially, if well watered and of a humid soil. Mooltan and Sindh to the south, and Peshawur to the north, seem the most noted for mists. The dews of Peshawur in August, September, and October, are said to be heavy. In September the people are induced from fear of the effects of the dews, as well as from the chilliness, to cease sleeping on the terraces. The spring there is more dewy than in Hindoostan. With respect to clouds and overcast weather, the cold countries have more than the warm. atmosphere of Kushmeer is cloudy during a considerable part of the year; May and June are its most sunny months, but in July, when it begins to rain in the Punjab, the clouds extend to Kushmeer. In the cold countries in general, clouds are observed to gather from the beginning of October, preparatory to the snows, which are to follow.

The

76. On the whole the vast tract here surveyed must be pronounced to have a dry climate, whether we regard the quantity of moisture which falls in the year, or the number of rainy days. The districts which can be called humid are comparatively few and unimportant; the rains even of our Upper Provinces astonish the natives of Afghanistan. The spring rains are the chief in Peshawur, and the season 1809 was a favorable one, yet were there but seven days of heavy rain, and four of light. It would be difficult to form an accurate scale of the dryness and humidity of the various districts already enume.. rated, but a conjecture may be formed from the data already given. Khoorasan is on the whole drier than those parts of Afghanisan not included within it, or than Toorkistan. Bulochistan is undoubtedly a dry climate. The west of Toorkistan is far drier than

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