Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/111

 the captive does the tread of the deliverer that is to set him free, and hails the first nimbous cloud upon the horizon as the traveller does the oasis in the desert—as the cast away mariner does the coming sad. The first roll of the thunder is welcome to his ear, as the signal gun of approaching assistance to the almost despairing warrior, and the first drops are as refreshing as a cup of cold water to a feverish patient, as auspicious as the first dew of perspiration on his burning forehead.

In Bengal, about the 20th of June, a change comes o'er the spirit of the atmosphere,and symptoms indicate the approach of the South West monsoon. The view is circumscribed with mist and haze: the air feels damp, and the tatty loses its cooling properties, the punkah is insisted on more urgently; the system feels more relaxed, the perspiration more clammy and profuse, and prickly heat more annoying. A nimbous cloud, with a fine cauliflower head, is seen on the western horizon, gradually ascends, accompanied by a whole army of others, which soon occupy the whole hemisphere. A portentous stillness prevads; the leaflets upon the trees hang motionless; the cattle of the field startle home; the birds of prey soar far aloft above the clouds; the natives are seen running for shelter in all directions, and the hum of the multitude in the bazars denotes active