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RAIN-FALL ON MOUNTAINS. 289
the Ghauts, the annual average of rain ascertained during a period of
forty years is 275 inches. At Pondicherry, at the same altitude, on the
Garrow Mountains, to the south of the valley of the Brahmapootra, the
quantity of rain discharged annually by the clouds is much greater—it is
550 inches; that is to say, it rains almost as much during the twelve
months as at Alexandria during a century: in the single month of July,
1857, as much as 148 inches fell there. It is probable that these enormous rain-falls have been even exceeded in several valleys of the Himalayas, for Thomson and Hooker speak of a locality where the rain is not
£0Qms 5^1^
ikW^-
20O"?3:
IS™3 -pins
OenuTonjee l&Mbukdwar Vera Cruz Bergaa Nantes Fads ^sssxa^x(Egypt)
Fig. 129.—Comparative Amounts of Rain-fall.
less than 470 inches in seven months, and where a temporary deluge of
four hours, similar to the breaking of a water-spout, covered the ground
with a liquid sheet estimated at thirty inches deep. In a single shower,
therefore, this valley of the Indus had received proportionately as much
water as France receives during a whole year. According to Cleghorn,
the average of rain on the coast-lands of India was only 42*5 inches—scarcely the eighth part of that which falls on the mountains of the interior. It
is from the enormous precipitation of moisture from the clouds brought
by the monsoons that the base ofthe first counter-forts ofthe Himalayas .
are bordered with the unhealthy zone of the " Terai," whose jungles travelers are obliged to pass rapidly, so as to escape, by dint of speed, from
fever and death.
Nowhere, certainly, in other regions of the torrid zone is the precipitation of rain favored in so remarkable a manner. On the slopes of the
Kiliman'djaro it rains almost every day during ten months; but the traveler Von der Decken, who was the first to ascertain this meteorological
fact, does not say that the rains fall as abundantly as in India. In the
Gulf of Guinea the monsoons, which are precipitated toward the continent, meeting with but few mountains that present an obstacle, carry
their rains far into the interior of.Africa. The Antilles have not enough
breadth to hinder the winds and clouds from deviating obliquely to right
and left, and the greatest annual quantities of rain that have been ascertained there in the high mountain gorges do not attain 390 inches, which
is 195 inches less than at Pondicherry. On the coasts of Colombia, the
chain of the Andes, relatively but little elevated, and here and there in-
19
| Title | The ocean, atmosphere, and life |
| Creator | Reclus, Elisée |
| Publisher | Harper |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1873 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000316 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | RAIN-FALL ON MOUNTAINS. 289 the Ghauts, the annual average of rain ascertained during a period of forty years is 275 inches. At Pondicherry, at the same altitude, on the Garrow Mountains, to the south of the valley of the Brahmapootra, the quantity of rain discharged annually by the clouds is much greater—it is 550 inches; that is to say, it rains almost as much during the twelve months as at Alexandria during a century: in the single month of July, 1857, as much as 148 inches fell there. It is probable that these enormous rain-falls have been even exceeded in several valleys of the Himalayas, for Thomson and Hooker speak of a locality where the rain is not £0Qms 5^1^ ikW^- 20O"?3: IS™3 -pins OenuTonjee l&Mbukdwar Vera Cruz Bergaa Nantes Fads ^sssxa^x(Egypt) Fig. 129.—Comparative Amounts of Rain-fall. less than 470 inches in seven months, and where a temporary deluge of four hours, similar to the breaking of a water-spout, covered the ground with a liquid sheet estimated at thirty inches deep. In a single shower, therefore, this valley of the Indus had received proportionately as much water as France receives during a whole year. According to Cleghorn, the average of rain on the coast-lands of India was only 42*5 inches—scarcely the eighth part of that which falls on the mountains of the interior. It is from the enormous precipitation of moisture from the clouds brought by the monsoons that the base ofthe first counter-forts ofthe Himalayas . are bordered with the unhealthy zone of the " Terai," whose jungles travelers are obliged to pass rapidly, so as to escape, by dint of speed, from fever and death. Nowhere, certainly, in other regions of the torrid zone is the precipitation of rain favored in so remarkable a manner. On the slopes of the Kiliman'djaro it rains almost every day during ten months; but the traveler Von der Decken, who was the first to ascertain this meteorological fact, does not say that the rains fall as abundantly as in India. In the Gulf of Guinea the monsoons, which are precipitated toward the continent, meeting with but few mountains that present an obstacle, carry their rains far into the interior of.Africa. The Antilles have not enough breadth to hinder the winds and clouds from deviating obliquely to right and left, and the greatest annual quantities of rain that have been ascertained there in the high mountain gorges do not attain 390 inches, which is 195 inches less than at Pondicherry. On the coasts of Colombia, the chain of the Andes, relatively but little elevated, and here and there in- 19 |
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