tional years it has risen to 86 deg. But at no period of
the day are dangerous results to be apprehended from exposure to the sun;
and except during parts of the months of March, and April, there is no
season when moderate exercise is not practicable and agreeable. For half
the year, from October to May, the prevailing winds are from the
north-east, and during the remaining months the south-west monsoon blows
steadily from the great Indian Ocean. The former, affected by the wintry
chills of the vast tracts of land which it traverses before crossing the
Bay of Bengal, is subject to many local variations and intervals of
calm. But the latter, after the first violence of its outset is abated,
becomes nearly uniform throughout the period of its prevalence, and
presents the character of an on-shore breeze extending over a prodigious
expanse of sea and land, and exerting a powerful influence along the
regions of southern Asia.

[Footnote 1: The exception to the exemption of Ceylon from hurricanes is
the occasional occurrence of a cyclone extending its circle till the
verge has sometimes touched Batticaloa, on the south-eastern extremity
of the island, causing damage to vegetation and buildings. Such an event
is, however, exceedingly rare. On the 7th of January, 1805, H.M.S.
"Sheerness" and two others were driven on shore in a hurricane at
Trincomalie.]

In Ceylon the proverbial fickleness of the winds, and the uncertainty
which characterises the seasons in northern climates, is comparatively
unknown; and the occurrence of changes or rain may be anticipated with
considerable accuracy in any month of a coming year. There are, of
course, abnormal seasons with higher ranges of temperature, heavier
rains, or droughts of longer continuance, but such extremes are
exceptional and rare. Great atmospheric changes occur only at two
opposite periods of the year, and so gradual is their approach that the
climate is monotonous, and one longs to see again "the falling of the
leaf" to diversify the sameness of perennial verdure. The line is faint
which divides the seasons. No period of the year is divested of its
seed-time and its harvest in some part of the island; and fruit hangs
ripe on the same branches that are garlanded with opening buds. But as
every plant has its own period for the production of its flowers and
fruit, each month is characterised by its own peculiar flora.

As regards the foliage of the trees, it might be expected t