At the beginning of the drought the inhabitants of Seoul believed that the Rain God was incensed. The Emperor and his Court offered expiatory sacrifices upon three occasions. As the rains were still withheld a period of penance was proclaimed, in which prayers and fastings were ordained, the populace ceasing from every form of labour and relapsing into a condition of supreme idleness. Unhappily, while the great mass of the people refrained from work, the Emperor continued to employ many hundreds of labourers upon the construction of the new Palace buildings. This proceeding was held by the superstitious subjects of His Majesty to account for the singular inclemency of the Rain Demon, and some anxiety was felt in the capital lest the usual calm of the city should be broken by riots. These horrors were spared to Seoul, however, by the fortuitous visitation of a passing shower. Men and women resumed their toil, rejoicing in the belief that the evil influences had been overcome. It was, however, but a brief respite only that was granted. In a short time the drought prevailed throughout the land, drying up the rice-fields, scorching the pastures, and withering the crops. Under this baneful visitation, the circumstances of the people became very straitened. Hundreds were reduced to feeding off the wild roots and grass of the wayside, and isolated cases of cannibalism were reported. The exceptional character of the drought lends interest to the hydrometrical records for Chemulpo from 1887 to the middle of 1901, which were forwarded to the bureau by the correspondent of the Physical Observatory, St. Petersburg. The rain-fall given is for the years 1887 to 1900, inclusive, and the first half of 1901; the snow-fall is reduced to the proportion of water which the melted snow would make. Professor H. Hulbert has pointed out, however, that in estimating what is or what is not a proper amount of rain, it is necessary to know in what season of the year the rain has fallen. Thirty inches of rain in November would be of less value to the rice-fields than half that amount if it fell in June. In the cultivation of rice, rain must fall at the proper time. Otherwise it is valueless, and, although adding to the actual measurement of the fall, a very considerable deluge, under these conditions, would be of no material advantage to agricultural interests. HYDROMETRICAL RECORD