In the southern hemisphere, in Chile and the south-western part of America, winter is the rainy season, while on the eastern side of the Cordilleras the rains occur in summer. In Tierra del Fuego and the extreme point of the continent the two provinces meet, the periodical precipitation disappears, and it snows and rains throughout the year in torrents. At Cape Horn the quantity of rain which fell in 41 days measured nearly 154 inches. This excessive fall of rain occurs along the whole western shores of Patagonia, from the Straits of Magellan to Cape Tres Montes—a circumstance favoured by the high and rugged coasts, and the incessant westerly winds, which carry the vapour exhaled from the ocean to be precipitated here in the form of rain. South Africa and Australia resemble each other in their rainy seasons, which in both countries take place in the winter months. The annual amount of rain at the equator is 95 inches, which falls in 78 or 80 days, giving an average of 1·14 inch daily; while at St. Petersburg the annual amount is 17 inches, which falls in 169 days, the average being little more than the tenth of an inch daily. The quantity of rain decreases in ascending from the plains to table-lands, especially if these be edged by mountains, because they precipitate the vapour before it arrives at the high plains. On the contrary, the quantity increases in ascending from plains to the tops or slopes of rugged mountains, on account of partial currents of air which condense the moisture into clouds. The quantity of rain decreases on receding from the coasts into the interior of continents, because more vapour rises from the sea than from the land. The vapour from the Gulf-stream produces a greater quantity of rain and fog in the southern counties of England and Ireland than that which falls in the other parts of the islands. The number of rainy days depends upon the direction of the wind. In Europe, if the wind always blew from the north-east, it would never rain, because it blows over a great extent of continent; whereas it would never cease raining were the wind always to blow from the south-west, because it would come loaded with vapour from the Atlantic. Hence, the greatest quantity of rain falls on the west coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, the coast of Scandinavia, the eastern Alps, and the centre of Portugal; in the two last it depends partly on the height and serrated form of the mountains. In western Europe it rains on twice as many days as in the eastern part; in Ireland there are three times as many rainy days as in Italy or Spain. In fact, on the western side of Ireland it rains on 208 days out of the 365. In England, France, and the north of Germany, there are from 152 to 155 rainy days in the year; the number decreases towards the interior of the continent, so that in Siberia it only rains on 60 days in the year.