Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 21.2

21.2

and in Bengale they fall very violently for four months, in the course of which it sometimes pours during eight days and nights without the least intermission. In Dehli and Agra, however, the rains are neither so abundant nor of such long continuance ; two or three days often elapsing without the slightest shower ; and from dawn of day to nine or ten o'clock in the morning, it commonly rains very little, and sometimes not at all. It struck me very particularly that the rains come from different quarters in different countries. In the neighbourhood of Dehli they come from the east, where Bengale is situated ; in the province of Bengale and on the coast of Koromandel, from the south ; and on the coast of Malabar almost invariably from the west. I have also remarked one thing, about which, indeed, there is a perfect agreement of opinion in these parts, — that accordingly as the heat of summer comes earlier or later, is more or less violent, or lasts a longer or shorter time, so the rains come sooner or later, are more or less abundant, and continue a longer or a shorter period.