Annual report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India.

  • India. Sanitary Commissioner.
Date:
[1883]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/432 (page 5)
    was a deficiency. Assam and Cachar also had a deficient rainfall. In the Central Provin¬ ces, the Berars, and also in Hyderabad the rainfall was above the average. In Bombay, Gujarat, Sind, Cutch, the North Konkan, and Dharwar had a deficiency, but elsewhere the fall was generally above the average. In Madras the rain was generally rather above the usual amount, except in Malabar and South Canara, where there was a considerable deficiency. Mysore also had less than the average amount. In Ceylon the fall was about the normal average except in the south-west, whei’e it was slightly deficient. At the Bay Islands any deficiency was very slight, and in Pegu and Tenasserim the rainfall was up to the average. On the Arakan Coast, however, it was short. July,—In July, at least during the first two-thirds of the month, rain was fairly general, and, with the exception of the Punjab and Assam, where there was a slight excess, the mean temperature of the month was about the average or a little below it. The drought which set in towards the close of the month had a greater effect on the temperature readings of August than on those of July. On the whole, the mean pressure of the month varied but little from the normal, except in Eastern India, where Assam, Bengal, Orissa, Arakan, and Pegu showed a somewhat decided deficiency. In Rajputana, Western India, and Ceylon there was a slight excess. The winds differed considerably from the average. Instead of the normal south-easterly and easterly winds in the Upper Gangetic Plain and the Punjab, the winds were very variable, and in Rajputana, on the Central India Plain, and in the Central Provinces the directions were more westerly and less south-westerly than usual. This was also the case along the Western Coast and at several of the stations in the interior of the Peninsula, but in Bengal the normal easterly winds prevailed. The absolute humidity of the air was in general above the average, especially so in the Kar- natic. But in the North-West Himalaya, Lower Bengal, and the Eastern Peninsula, and also in Ceylon there was a slight deficiency. In the latter part of the month in Northern India great and increasing dryness set in with the cessation of the rainfall. There was an abnormal deficiency of cloud in North-Western India, but an average or ex¬ cessive amount in nearly all other places except the Karnatic where, as a general rule, the serenity of the previous months continued. The first part of this month was wet over Northern India, but after the 19th a break in the rains set in in the Punjab and subsequently spread to the North-Western Provinces, the Central Provinces, the Konkan, and Deccan. In the Punjab (except at the most western stations), in Rajputana (except at some stations in the north-west and at Mount Abu), and in the Central India States the fall was decidedly deficient. In Oudh, notwithstanding the dry period at the end of the month, there was in general an excess of rain, and this was also the case in the North-Western Provinces with the exception of the districts of Bareilly, Budaun, and the most southern stations of the Province. In Bengal the rainfall was very irregularly distributed, the principal areas of excessive precipitation were the Presidency and Burdwan divisions, and those of deficient precipitation the more northern districts. In the upper dis¬ tricts of the Assam Valley rain was rather heavier than usual, but elsewhere in Assam and Cachar it was below the average, greatly so on the Khasi and Garo Hills. In the Central Provinces the local variations in the rainfall were considerable, but on the mean of the whole the amount was rather deficient. In the Berars, and also in Hyderabad, rain was slightly in excess, but during the latter part of the month the falls were very light and partial. Over the greater part of the Bombay Presidency the rainfall was heavier than usual. In Madras also it generally exceeded the average, except on the west coast, where, especially at Cannanore and Mangalore, it was short. In Mysore and Coorg, and also in Ceylon and the Bay Islands, the fall was slightly below the average. In Burmah, with a few exceptions, there was a slight excess. August.—The drought which set in in July and lasted through August raised the temperature of this month unduly high over the greater part of India. The average excess (over 2°) was greatest in the Punjab, Eastern Rajputana, and Central India, whence it decreased to between 1° and 2° in the Gangetic Plain, Western Rajputana, Gujarat, &c. In the Burmese Peninsula there was still a slight depression. As in July, the mean pressure of this month differed but little from the average, and the distribution of the anomalies was also similar. There was a slight excess in parts of Rajputana and Central India, and on the Bombay Coast, and the greatest deficiency (in Northern India)