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it is to the objects from which we cannot conveniently or properly separate ourselves that we should direct our best affections, our most strenuous exertions. To apply our energies, however vigorous or weak they really may be, to objects and concerns with which we have no immediate connexion, and with which we have no prospect of being permanently united, either for a time or during our journey through life, betrays an extravagant deficiency of judgment, a shallowness of apprehension, a levity of thought. The most evident mark of prudence is exhibited by those who, whilst they look forward with hope to the future, and review the past with impartiality, give heed to their present conduct so as to improve from their experience, and to cherish their foudest wishes of rising to higher degrees of honor and happiness. To them the past is valuable, in so far as it tends to enliven and inform their understanding. They hold the present as of greater importance, because it gives opportunity of proving the progress in substantial knowledge, and of adding to their wisdom. The future wears to them an inviting appearance, amidst all the pains and disasters of a changing world; because it promises time for still further improvement of the mind, by which every rational qualification must be augmented, every unavoidable cause of sorrow diminished. Every succeeding day adds strength to their desire for regularity. Every season of the year gives a peculiar relish to their engagements. The several periods of each day they allot to certain purposes, however closely connected, yet distinct, like so many independent parts of one complete whole. From the dawn of the morning until the lengthening shades announce the close of the day, the hours are divided between the calls of religion, and the necessary affairs of life, the refresh ment of the body, and the recreation of the mind. Nor are the darksome watches of the night unapplied to suitable purposes. The setting sun warns them to reflect on the events of the day, and to prepare for the repose requisite to renew their strength for the pursuits and toils of another day. To such repose an adequate portion of time is allotted; and both the body and mind are preserved in healthful harmony,

until by the unsearchable decree of Providence some unforeseen disease assails the seat of life; to answer ends wrapt up in the veiled records of heaven, and to which the utmost flight of human intellect cannot aspire. Thus day rolls on after day, and year after year, down the smooth and silent, but rapid stream of time, whilst every hour is applied to some honorable purpose of business, or rational amusement, of necessary recreation, or repose; not according to the whims of chance, but according to some fixed plan, dictated by experience, and approved by reason. And thus their happiness is as complete and permanent as the uncertainty and changeable nature of all things visible can admit; as it is possible for undecaying spirit to enjoy while connected with corruptible body. London, December 5th, 1818.

NATURAL PHENOMENA.

W. T. H.

No- 19.-THE SOUTH-WEST MONSOON IN INDIA.

THE must remarkable rainy season, is that called in India the south west monsoon. It extends from Africa to the Malay peninsula, and deluges all the intermediate countries within certain lines of latitude, for four months in the year. In the south of India this monsoon commences about the beginning of June, but it gets later as we advance towards the north. Its approach is announced by vast masses of clouds, that rise from the Indian Ocean, and advance towards the north-east, gathering and thickening as they approach the land. After some threatening days, the sky assumes a troubled appearance in the evenings, and the monsoon in general sets in during the night. It is attended with such a thunder storm as can scarcely be imagined by those who have only seen that phenomena in temperate climates. It generally begins with violent blasts of wind, which are succeeded by floods of rain. For some hours lightning is seen almost without intermission; sometimes it only illuminates the sky, and shows the clouds, near the horizon; at others it discovers the distant hills, and again leaves all in darkness, when in an instant it re-appears, in vivid and successive flashes, and exhibits the nearest objects in

all the brightness of the day. During this time the distant thunder never ceases to roll, and is only silenced by some nearer peal, which bursts on the ear with such a sudden and tremendous crash, as can scarcely fail to strike the most insensible heart with awe. At length the thunder ceases, and nothing is heard but the continued pouring of the rain, and the rushing of the rising streams. The next day presents a gloomy spectacle: the rain still descends in torrents, and scarcely allows a view of the blackened fields: the rivers are swoln and discoloured, and sweep down along with them the hedges, the huts, and the remains of the cultivation which was carried on, during the dry season, in their beds.

This lasts for some days, after which the sky clears, and discovers the face of nature changed as if by enchantment. Before the storm the fields were parched up, and except in the beds of the rivers, scarce a blade of vegetation was to be seen: the clearness of the sky was not intercepted by a single cloud, but the atmosphere was loaded with dust, which was sufficient to render distant objects dim, as in a mist, and to make the sun appear dull and discoloured, till he attained a considerable elevation: a parching wind blew like a blast from a furnace, and heated wood, iron, and every other solid material, even in the shade; and immediately before the monsoon, this wind had been succeeded by still more sultry calms. But when the first violence of the storm is over, the whole earth is covered with a sudden but luxuriant verdure; the rivers are full and tranquil; the air is pure and delicious; and the sky is varied and embellished with clouds. The effect of the change is visible on all the animal creation, and can only be imagined in Europe by supposing the depth of a dreary winter to shoot at once into all the freshness and brilliancy of spring. From this time the rain falls at intervals for about a month, when it comes on again with great violence, and in July the rains are at their height: during the third month, they rather diminish, but are still heavy; and in September they gradually abate, and are often entirely suspended, till near the end of the month, when they depart amidst thunders and tempests as they came.

Such is the monsoon in the greater part of India. It is not, however, without some diversity, the principal feature of which is the delay in its commencement, and the diminution of the quantity of rain, as it re cedes from the sea.

In the countries which are the subject of the present inquiry, (Caubul and the neighbouring countries) the monsoon is felt with much less violence than in India, and is exhausted at no great distance from the sea, so that no trace of it can be perceived in Candahar. A ́remarkable exception to this rule is, however, to be observed in the north-east of Afghaaunistaun, which, although much farther from the sea than Candahar, is subject to the monsoon; and what is equally extraordinary, receives it from the east.

These anomalies may perhaps be accounted for by the following considerations. It is to be observed, that the clouds are formed by the vapours of the Indian Ocean, and are driven over the land by a wind from the south-west. Most part of the tract in which the kingdom of Caubul lies, is to leeward of Africa and Arabia, and receives only the vapours of the narrow sea between its southern shores and the latter country, which are but of small extent, and are exhausted in the immediate neighbourhood of the coast. India lying further east, and beyond the shelter of Africa, the monsoon spreads over it without any obstruction. It is naturally most severe near the sea, from which it draws its supplies, and is exhausted after it has past over a great extent of land. For this reason, the rains are more or less plentiful in each country, according to its distance from the sea, except in those near bigh mountains, which arrest the clouds, and procure a larger supply of rain for the neighbouring tracts, than would have fallen to their share, if the passage of the clouds had been unobstructed.

The obstacle presented to the clouds and winds by the mountains has another effect of no small importance. The south-west monsoon blows over the ocean in its natural direction; and though it may experience some diversities after it reaches the land, its general course over India may still be said to be towards the north-east, till it is exhausted on the western and cen

tral parts of the Peninsula. The provinces in the north-east receive the monsoon in a different manner : the wind which brings the rains to that part of the continent, originally blows from the south-west, over the Bay of Bengal, till the mountains of Hemalleh, and those which join them from the south, stop its progress, and compel it to follow their course towards the north-west. The prevailing wind, therefore, in the region south-west of Hemalleh, is from the southeast, and it is from that quarter that our provinces in Bengal receive their rains. But when the wind has reached so far to the north-west as to meet with Hindoo Coosh, it is again opposed by that mountain, and turned off along its face towards the west, till it meets the projection of Hindoo Coosh and the range of Solimaun, which prevent its further progress in that direction, or at least compel it to part with the clouds with which it was loaded. The effect of the mountains in stopping the clouds borne by this wind, is different in different places. Near the sea, where the clouds are still in a deep mass, part is discharged on the hills and the country beneath them, and part passes up to the north-west; but part makes its way over the first hills, and produces the rains in Tibet. In the latitude of Cashmeere, where the hills are considerably exhausted, this division is little perceived; the southern face of the hills and the country still further south is watered; and a part of the clouds continue their progress to Afghaunistan; but few make their way over the mountains, or reach the valley of Cashmeere. The clouds which pass on to Afghaunistaun are exhausted as they go: the rains become weaker and weaker, and at last are merely sufficient to water the mountains, without much affecting the plains at their base.

The above observations will explain, or at least connect, the following facts. The south-west monsoon commences on the Malabar coast in May, and is there very violent; it is later and more moderate in Mysore; and the Coromandel coast, covered by the mountainous countries on its west, is entirely exempt from it. Further north, the monsoon begins early in June, and loses a good deal of its violence, except in the places influenced by the neighbourhood of the mountains or

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