The bursting of the south-west monsoon, which is one of the main factors in determining the sequence of seasons in India, takes place in Ceylon in the latter half of May, and gradually creeps northward, reaching Bombay early in June, and finding its way inland in the latter half of that month. Traditionally, the 15th June is the date for the advent of the rains in Northern India, but it is rarely that the hopes of the anxious denizens of the broiling plains are fulfilled by its appearance at so early a date, and the end of the month probably more nearly approaches the average. On rare occasions the rain may not come till the 15th July, and the last month of waiting in such years is always a time of much tedium and suffering, as the absence of precipitation does not prevent the air from becoming saturated with moisture, which, combined with unabated high temperature, renders the lives of all subjected to it barely tolerable. India is fortunately well provided with hill-stations, Bombay being the only presidency which is badly off in this respect. There the two or three health resorts reach an elevation of no more than from 4,000 to 5,000 ft., and are practically utilised only during the hot, dry season preceding the burst of the monsoon. Once the rains are established the health-seeker has to leave these stations for Poona, a large station on the summit of the western ghauts, where, thanks to the pleasant sea-breeze, the climate during the rains, if rather too warm for choice, is on the whole very pleasant. Madras possesses excellent sanatoria in the Nihilgerris, the principal hill-station of Ootacamand, at an elevation of over 6,000 ft., being in many respects the best of the Indian hill-stations. Owing to its southerly position it enjoys an admirable climate all the year round, and unlike the Himalayan stations, which are perched on steep spurs and peaks, is situated on a wide, rolling table-land, so that it is possible to drive about in ordinary carriages, and even to follow the hounds, though, it must be confessed, the hunting is much more like that to be got with the Dartmoor hounds than in “the Shires.” TEMPERATURE TABLE OF INDIAN STATIONS EXPRESSED IN METRIC SYSTEM.