mping on the bottom might spoil the attempt," said Mr.
Gaskette, who was standing by his map.

"It would not be prudent in a cyclone, and I trust you will have no
occasion to try the experiment," added Sir Modava. "But cyclones are rare
here, except from the last of May and into June, and in October, November,
and early in December; so that the port is not liable to more than two
storms a year. The average rainfall is forty-nine inches, falling on
ninety-five days; but in seventy-four years, ending two years ago, it
varied from a foot and a half to seven feet and four inches. It is dry here
some years, and rather damp when they get eighty-eight inches.

"Going to Madras in March, the temperature of the place is of no
consequence to you, except as a matter of curiosity, being in the Torrid
Zone. It will be from 76 deg. to 88 deg. while you are here. The average
temperature for the year is 82 deg.; in the hot months it rises to over 100 deg.;
the highest in twenty-seven years was 113 deg., and the lowest 57.6 deg.. A
sea-breeze often sets in about noon, lasting till sunset, greatly modifying
the heat. I think I need say no more about the city till we get there."

This talk was followed by a concert by the band. The ship sped on her
course, though something to instruct and amuse was going on all the time.
At the time set Madras was in sight, and a little later the surf was seen
rolling in on the shore. The depth is shallow near the land, which causes
the water to break. The Guardian-Mother was anchored in the deep water, and
Lord Tremlyn invited the party to proceed to the apartments at the Royal
Hotel which he had bespoken for them. The commander made no further
objections to the matter of expense, and the invitation was promptly
accepted. A number of the masulah-boats, not the rafts, were engaged to
land them. They were much like any other boat, though they were paddled,
and not rowed. They saw the catamarans, constructed as the Hindu gentleman
had described, paddled on the waves by a single man, wearing a sugar-loaf
hat.

The masulah-boats went to the shore very comfortably, and carriages were in
waiting for the party on the beach near where they landed. As they passed
through the streets everything seemed to be very much as it was in
Calcutta; and they saw similar palanquins, bullock-carts, and elephants.
The Malabar Hindu was not very different from those of other sections of
the country, though he had some peculiar