Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877Kennedy, James
History
Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877
Kennedy, James
India -- Description and travel; India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Biography; Missionaries; Missions -- India
delivered from the unpleasantness the barrier has often caused, their
character will grow in strength, and they will become increasingly
fitted for exerting a happy influence on the native community. In the
case of individuals the distinction is now practically ignored. There
are no more honoured and honourable persons in India than some who
belong to this class. There have always been devoted Christians among
them, and of late years an increasing number have come under the power
of Divine grace.
It has been often remarked that one of the most pleasing traits of
native society is reproduced among Eurasians--the tie of kinship
prompting those who are in better circumstances to help their needy
relatives, often to the giving of large pecuniary aid, not unfrequently
to the taking of them into their houses. In the humbler portions of the
community there is often seen a patriarchal household like that so often
seen in native society.
[Sidenote: THE CLIMATE OF NORTHERN INDIA.]
The new-comer's experience of climate prepares him for what he has to
expect during his future residence. We have three marked seasons in the
North-Western Provinces, the one melting gradually into the other--the
hot season beginning in March and ending in June, the rainy season
beginning with July and ending in October, and the cold weather
beginning with November and ending in February. The seasons may thus be
described in a general way, but in fact every year differs somewhat from
others, as they do in our own country. The hot weather is sensibly felt
before March begins, and the heat of March is far less than that of the
succeeding months. The first burst of the rains is often before the
middle of June, but after that burst, called the "little rainy season,"
it is not uncommon to have a spell of very hot sunny weather. In some
years, indeed, there is so much weather of this kind during what is
called the rainy season, that the heat is most intense, and the crops
are burnt up. Towards the end of September there is commonly the last
great outpour of rain, and as October advances there is the cooling
freshness of the approaching cold weather, with enough of heat in the
day-time to tell us it has not quite let go its grasp. December and
January are our coldest months. In England, after an unpropitious
summer, the remark is often made, "We have had no summer!" and in the
same manner in India, when the temperature has been high in the cold
season, and we have not had the expected bracing, we say, "We have had
no winter!" Yet as in our own country, so in India; we have our marked
seasons, though we cannot be sure of the weather at any particular
period.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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