11|Hyderabad |p|Southern plateau.--Scanty rainfall, but no great |Poona |i|annual variation of temperature; intense heat of |Belgaum |c|central region modified by sea breeze as ghauts |Bellary |a|are approached. Malaria worst in August, prolonged |Bangalore |l|far into cool season, but rarely of virulent type. |Trichinopoly | | ---+-------------+I+-------------------------------------------------- 12|Cochin |n|Southern littoral.--Climate uniform and moist. No |(West Coast) |d|marked malaria-free season, but disease seldom |Madras |i|specially severe. |(East Coast) |a| ---+-------------+.+-------------------------------------------------- 13|Rangoon | |Lower Burmah.--Resembles Indian Southern littoral | | |in climate, but disease often of severe type. ---+-------------+ +-------------------------------------------------- 14|Mandalay | |Climate resembles that of Southern Indian plateau. | | |Malaria from June to December, worst in August; | | |disease often of virulent type. ===+=============+=+================================================== In the third zone, that of Bengal, the cold weather is short, but even in Calcutta there are two months during which ordinary European clothing becomes desirable. There is a short hot weather, relieved by a rainy period, the “chota barsât,” about Easter, but the heat never approaches that of the western part of the continental triangle. The rainfall is extremely heavy towards the east, as in Assam, so that extensive floods are common, and malaria necessarily very common and often serious. In the northern part of the peninsular triangle we find the same tendency to dryness in the west and moisture in the east, Khathiawar and Surat having but moderate rainfalls, while that of Orissa is very heavy; but in neither is either the fierce heat or bracing cold weather of the northern triangle to be met with. Between the two lie the “Central” Provinces, which, apart from some favoured spots, such as Saugor and Chindwara, which have an elevation of over 2,000 feet, undoubtedly possess one of the vilest climates in India, or in the world. The hot, dry weather is severe and prolonged, and towards the burst of the monsoon is combined with a moist atmosphere without any alleviation of the heat. The writer has personally verified in the Nerbudah valley a temperature of 105° F. (40·6° C.) at 4.30 a.m. in the open, the observation being taken carefully with a swung Kew thermometer. The so-called cold weather lasts barely two months, and the only time of the year that by any stretch of politeness can be said to be pleasant, is that of the rains, which probably rather by force of contrast than by virtue of any real superiority to the same season elsewhere, includes days when the air seems really refreshing.