DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.644#0124
EASTERN HINDOOSTAN. ror
The Tanks are then filled ; thefe are vaft refervoirs, of a fquare Tanks,
form, lined with ftone ; they are defigned to preferve the water
during the dry feafon, moiftening the arid grounds and gardens,
for bathing and for ceconomical purpofes: there are public and
private tanks, and many are founded on the public highways,
by the charity of the rieh, for the relief of the thirfty Tra-
vellers, or their cattle, parched with thirft.
It is remarked that the heat on the open parts of the Car-
natic is never fubjecT: to violent changes. A Mr. Cbamier kept a
regifter at Madras during four years, and found that the heat
at the fame hour, fame day, and fame month of each year, va-
ried but little. In unufual heats and colds of particular feafons».
the whole feale of temperature, from its moft oppofite ex-
tremes, did not exceed 36 degrees, viz. from 64 to 100, which,
Mr. Cbamier obferved but once in the courfe of the four years;
four-fifths of the time being in a temperature above 76 and
below 90. In the interior parts of the Carnatic, during the hot
months, every perfon who expofes himfelf without doors at
noon, fuffers a great degree of heat, and the thermoraeter rifes
to 136 degrees, fometimes higher; yet this temperature is not
only compatible with life, but even with the active funetions
of men, for in the midft of it armies march with all their cum-
brous equipments ; forts are erected or demoliflied ; and a heat
that rifes 60 degrees above the fummer-temperature of the
Britißj iflands, is unable to reftrain the eftbrts of men engaged
in war, commerce, or amufement.
In the dry feafon a beautiful clear fky prevales, and the fir-
mament feems to glow with fire. In the rainy feafon the fun
is fometimes hid for weeks together, and the earth over-
fliadowed
The Tanks are then filled ; thefe are vaft refervoirs, of a fquare Tanks,
form, lined with ftone ; they are defigned to preferve the water
during the dry feafon, moiftening the arid grounds and gardens,
for bathing and for ceconomical purpofes: there are public and
private tanks, and many are founded on the public highways,
by the charity of the rieh, for the relief of the thirfty Tra-
vellers, or their cattle, parched with thirft.
It is remarked that the heat on the open parts of the Car-
natic is never fubjecT: to violent changes. A Mr. Cbamier kept a
regifter at Madras during four years, and found that the heat
at the fame hour, fame day, and fame month of each year, va-
ried but little. In unufual heats and colds of particular feafons».
the whole feale of temperature, from its moft oppofite ex-
tremes, did not exceed 36 degrees, viz. from 64 to 100, which,
Mr. Cbamier obferved but once in the courfe of the four years;
four-fifths of the time being in a temperature above 76 and
below 90. In the interior parts of the Carnatic, during the hot
months, every perfon who expofes himfelf without doors at
noon, fuffers a great degree of heat, and the thermoraeter rifes
to 136 degrees, fometimes higher; yet this temperature is not
only compatible with life, but even with the active funetions
of men, for in the midft of it armies march with all their cum-
brous equipments ; forts are erected or demoliflied ; and a heat
that rifes 60 degrees above the fummer-temperature of the
Britißj iflands, is unable to reftrain the eftbrts of men engaged
in war, commerce, or amufement.
In the dry feafon a beautiful clear fky prevales, and the fir-
mament feems to glow with fire. In the rainy feafon the fun
is fometimes hid for weeks together, and the earth over-
fliadowed