The Bursting of the Monsoon.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 110, 11 July 1885, Page 4

The Bursting of the Monsoon.

Life in India would be impossible without its monsoons, and the periodical approach of one of these great rainstorms is always hailed there with delight. The south-west monsoon sets in generally toward the end of April, the steady wind sweeping up from I the Indian ocean and carrying with it dense volumes of vapour, which slowly collect in dark masses of cloud as they approach the continent. From Adam'p Peak, in the Isle of Spices, right along the Eastern and Western Ghauts and the Nilgris, every hilltop is gradually shrcuded in mist, instead of standing out clear and sharp against the sky. Darker and denserbecome the cloud masses ; the horizon assumes a heavy lead appearance, sometimes kindling into a lurid glare — answering to the sense of oppression, both mental and physical, which accompanies it. The atmosphere becomes " close " and oppressive alike to man and beast ; but the heat is borne with patience, for relief is at hand. Flashes of lightning play from cloud to cloud, and heavy thunder reverberates through the heavens ; the wind suddenly springs up into a tempest, and along the shore the white waves are tossed in foam against the rocks or over the burning sand. Then a few great drops of rain fall, like balls of lead from the apparently leaden sky ; the forked light ning is changed to sheets of light, and suddenly the floodgates of heaven are opened, and not rain, but sheets of water, are poured forth, refreshing the parched earth, carrying fertility over the surface of the country, filling the wells and natural reservoirs with a fresh store, and replenishing the dwindling rivers and stream?. The whole earth seems suddenly recalled to life. Vegetation may almost be seen to grow, and from the baked mud of the river bankß emerge countless fishes which for weeks or months before have lain there in torpor.