Climate. CHAPTER V. CLIMATE. The climate of Berár probably differs very little from that of the Dakhan generally, except that in the Páyanghát valley the hot weather may be exceptionably severe. It sets in early, for the freshness of the short cold season vanishes with the crops, when the ground has been laid bare by carrying the harvest; but the heat does not much increase until the end of March. From the 1st of May until the rains set in, about the middle of June, the sun is very powerful, and we have by day severe heat, but without the scorching winds of Upper India. The nights are comparatively cool throughout, probably because the direct rays of the sun have their effect counteracted by the retentiveness of moisture peculiar to the black soil, and by the evaporation which is always going on.* During the rains the air is moist and cool. In the Bálághát country, above the Ajanta hills, the thermometer always stands much lower; the climate is described in the Gazetteers for Buldana and Wún. On the loftiest Gáwilgarh hills the climate is always temperate. In the account of Melghat will be found some meteorological notes on the sanatarium of Chikalda. The average rain-fall for the whole province is not yet accurately known; it is said to be about twenty-seven inches in the valley, and above thirty inches above the gháts. On the Gáwilgarh hills it is of course much more. The annexed table shows approximately (for our statistical system is incomplete) the number of deaths in Berár during 1869, and their proportion to the population numbered in 1867 Elichpur 3,67,529 1,712 775 2,691 1,277 30 3 73 53 1,811 4,673 3,785 8,459 465 2.1 12.7 10.29 23. 6 69 31 1,216 3,369 2,708 6,075 7-9 292 16-85 13-53 30-39 Total 20,74,514, 10,947 6,365 12,917 6,151 130 12 378 298 10,137 26,013 21,325 17,338 5 27 3:06 12:5 10 27 22.8 * Akola being 930 feet above mean sea-level, the correction for altitude would be 023 to the mean pressures given here. Climate. From November to March may be considered the cold season. The sun, even then, is very powerful in the middle of the day. The nights are cold, although frost is of very rare occurrence. From March to the middle of June is the hot weather, during which time the heat is great, and there is generally a hot wind during the day; the nights are however, as a rule, cool. The rains commence about the 10th of June, and continue to the end of August, the climate during this time not being unpleasant. September and October are hot and steamy, as in the plains in other parts of India, and these are the most unhealthy months. Cholera, small-pox, fever, ague, and a kind of rheumatic affection called "wái," which is considered for the most part fatal. Diseases. Melgha't. There are two distinct climates to be found in Melghát, according as we keep to its higher ridges or descend into its lower valleys-the former healthy and invigorating, as evidenced at Chikalda, the sanitarium of this part of India; the latter unhealthy and enervating, save during the hot season. From observations at Chikalda the mean temperature was found to be 71°. The hottest months were April and May, giving a mean of 83°; the coldest months were January and February, having a mean of 59°: thus producing between the hottest and coldest months a range of 24°. Abstract of Thermometrical Observations simultaneously made at Chikalda and Elichpúr. November { 74 86 60 14 60 14 62 11 67 S.W. 52 72 68 68 82 December N.W. 50 32 32 34 54 32 96 94 106 106 25 74 22 22 81 13 83 73 N. 78 28 84 22 96 91 107 104 32 20 22 27 6 73 66 12 84 76 N.W. 86 12 92 79 N.W. 99 N.W. 100 84 90 10 95 84 N.W. Climate. The coldest day observed was the 9th of February, at sunrise, being 47°. The hottest day noticed was on the 27th of April, at 2 P.M., being Selections. 96°. Between the extremes of heat and cold there was therefore a range of 49°. The greatest monthly range was 14° in November. The greatest diurnal range was 4° in February, and 5o in June. The wet-bulb thermometer during the hot months had an average depression of 10°, and the thermometer a general range of about 10° below the temperature of Elichpúr. The rains cease about the middle of September; heavy dews then occur until the cold weather begins, and also from February to the rains; at this period the moist atmosphere is bright and transparent, but becomes hazy as it gets less dense towards the hot weather. Diseases. Malarious fever is prevalent in the valleys from the close of the rains (September) up to the end of the cold season (January). Cholera occasionally makes an inroad with more or less severity, while small-pox, when it does break out, is most virulent in its ravages. Spleen and a kind of goitre, attributable to the water, are known in certain parts. Extract from Meteorological Register kept at Chikalda, Berúr, showing the Mean Thermometer and Barometer Readings, and Total Rain-fall in each month. * The rain-fall seems to have been regularly observed only from June to October. |