Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/110

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 * a good deal that of Bengal Proper, the country within the delta of the Irrawaddy being equally flat and liable to inundation; but the monsoon sets in much earlier, generally about the 12th of May, the rains continuing with occasional glimpses of sunshine, until the middle of September; during the rains the atmosphere is so excessively moist that every article in the house becomes mouldy, and unless dried once a week over a charcoal fire, one's clothes would rot in their trunks. Hence, every careful man, who consults his health and his economy, has a standing brazier of burning charcoal with a large frame of basket-work, to place over it, which he uses as a kiln to dry his clothes and everything else of value. For a month previous to the monsoon the heat of the day is very great; every article is of a temperature above blood-heat, and on sitting down on a chair one has the idea that some playful person has been heating it as a practical joke. However, the nights are at all seasons cool and admit of a sound night's sleep. Though most of the trees shed their leaves and remain bare during the cool weather, yet fires are unknown, and an Alpaca coat is warm enough even in what is called winter.
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 * a good deal that of Bengal Proper, the country within the delta of the Irrawaddy being equally flat and liable to inundation; but the monsoon sets in much earlier, generally about the 12th of May, the rains continuing with occasional glimpses of sunshine, until the middle of September; during the rains the atmosphere is so excessively moist that every article in the house becomes mouldy, and unless dried once a week over a charcoal fire, one's clothes would rot in their trunks. Hence, every careful man, who consults his health and his economy, has a standing brazier of burning charcoal with a large frame of basket-work, to place over it, which he uses as a kiln to dry his clothes and everything else of value. For a month previous to the monsoon the heat of the day is very great; every article is of a temperature above blood-heat, and on sitting down on a chair one has the idea that some playful person has been heating it as a practical joke. However, the nights are at all seasons cool and admit of a sound night's sleep. Though most of the trees shed their leaves and remain bare during the cool weather, yet fires are unknown, and an Alpaca coat is warm enough even in what is called winter.
 * a good deal that of Bengal Proper, the country within the delta of the Irrawaddy being equally flat and liable to inundation; but the monsoon sets in much earlier, generally about the 12th of May, the rains continuing with occasional glimpses of sunshine, until the middle of September; during the rains the atmosphere is so excessively moist that every article in the house becomes mouldy, and unless dried once a week over a charcoal fire, one's clothes would rot in their trunks. Hence, every careful man, who consults his health and his economy, has a standing brazier of burning charcoal with a large frame of basket-work, to place over it, which he uses as a kiln to dry his clothes and everything else of value. For a month previous to the monsoon the heat of the day is very great; every article is of a temperature above blood-heat, and on sitting down on a chair one has the idea that some playful person has been heating it as a practical joke. However, the nights are at all seasons cool and admit of a sound night's sleep. Though most of the trees shed their leaves and remain bare during the cool weather, yet fires are unknown, and an Alpaca coat is warm enough even in what is called winter.

6. THE RAINS.—During such an ordeal, as the hot season, the rains are looked for with intense interest, and the exile awaits their approach as
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