Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/603

* INDIA. 527 INDIA. The great river plains cross India in a wide belt from oast to west, south of the mountains; and at their ends the plains are projected south- ward, where the Indus and the Ganges-Brahma- putra have advanced their deltas far seaward. On the alluvial lands arc the densest population and the richest cultivation ; for density of popu- lation is determined in India, not by the tempera- ture, but by the supply of»vater available for the farms. But there are waste and almost unpeo- pled districts also among these lowlands; and the rainless Desert of Thar or Indian iDesert, to the east of the Indus delta, extends north- eastward almost to the base of the Himalayas. The third topographic division of the country is the peninsula, the great triangular plateau of the Dccoan. from 1000 to .SOOO feet above the sea. The northern boundary of the plateau is the Vindhya Mountains, which join the plateau to the low plain. The Deccan triangle is further defined by the Western Ghats rising above the fertile and accessible Malabar coast, and in the east by the Eastern Ghats overlooking the Coro- mandel coast, which is difficult of access, for the harbors are few and very poor. Xo other part of the world testifies more eloquently than the Deccan tableland to the prodigious energy for- merly displayed by plutonic forces. The greater part of this immense platcaii was built up by outpourings of lava and basalt (trap), which in places are 6000 feet thick. The coast-line of Burma is not deeply indented except where the projecting delta of the Irra- waddy forms the Gulf of jiartaban. The low coast and the flooded valleys make Burma the greatest producer of export rice in the world. Farther inland, to the east of the Irrawaddy and on both sides of the river in its upper course, the country is hilly and heavily forested. Hybbogr.piit. The four great rivers of India are the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the Irrawaddy. the last named in Burma. The heaviest rainfall is not on the plains or on the southern plateau, but on the slopes of the mountains, which pour their torrents into the great rivers below, with the result that the Ganges and the Brahmaputra carry to the sea a volume of water that is entirely out of propor- tion to their length or the area of their drainage basins. The Indus contributes to the basin of the Arabian Sea the waters derived from the Punjab (land of five streams), and from the plateau of Afghanistan. It is navigable for over nOO miles, but its value as a water highway is small on account of the impetuosity- of its cur- rent. It is least important among the great rivers. The majestic and smoothly flowing Gan- ges is far more valuable for navigation than any other river of India. Both the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, which joins it near its mouth, are turbid with fertilizing silt from the mountains, which has formed the great Bengal delta. The Irrawaddy of Burma is navigable by steamers to Mandalay. The rivers of the peninsular part of India, though some of them are of considerable length, are not important for navigation. Among them may be mentioned the Xerbudda (Nar- bad) and Tapti, both flowinc into the Arabian Sea, and the !Mahanuddy (ifahanadi), Godavery (Oodavari), Kistna (Krishnal, and Kavery, which pour their waters into the Bay of Bengal. Cllmate. On account of the great extent of India and its differing altitudes, the country has many differences of climate. The whole land may be described as more or less tropical except in the higher altitudes. Slopes of the Hima- layas, as high as they are habitable, enjoy a tem- perate climate; neither is there for the natives an oppressive degree of heat on the high pla- teau of the Deccan. Among the Himalayas and the Nilgiris Europeans have established sanatori- ums amid the most agreeable climatic conditions, where many of them take refuge from the pros- trating heat of the hot months. The climate of India, except in the districts of jungle and marsh ' lands, is not, on the whole, uijiealthful for the white race if the ordinary precautions required in all hot countries are observed. The most heated area is that of the northwest, in or about the region of the Indian Desert, where the mean July temjierature exceeds 95°. Bj' far the most important climatic element is the rainfall, upon which depends the very existence of the people. Throughout the country in general there are only two seasons, the drj" and the rainy, also known as the season of the north- east monsoon and the season of the southwest monsoon. These names are derived from the di- rection of the winds prevailing in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal during the two periods. They are really inapplicable, however, over a great part of India, where the winds are from directions nearly opposite to those indicated by the names of the seasons, and are chiefly deter- mined by the axial directions of the local river valleys. Thus the winds in South Bengal are from the southeast, and in Behar from the east, during the southwest monsoon, and are from the opposite directions in the northeast monsoon. The two seasons in India might, therefore, more appropriately be called the dry monsoon and the wet monsoon, from their most characteristic fea- tures. The dry monsoon or season usually begins in Xovember or December, and continues until May. Winds of land origin prevail more or less steadily in the interior, and hence the period is usually marked by great dryness of the air and little or no rain. The first three months of this period (Decend)er to February), characterized by a com- paratively low temperature, are known as the cold-weather season ; and the second three months (March to May), when the temperature increases rapidly and culminates in a period of excessive heat in JIay. as the hot-weather sea- son. During the ccild-weather season storms of large extent, the majority of which form in Persia, enter India from Beluchistan and tra- verse Xorthcrn India from west to cast, distribut- ing light rains in the Indo-Gangetic plains and liea^-y snow over the Western Himalayas. The severity of the hot-weather season is occasionally relieved by the occurrence of thunder-storms and dust-storms, which cool the air for brief periods. The characteristic features of the dry season are persistent dry weather, with clear skies, and large diurnal range of temperature. The rains of the wet season or the southwest monsoon set in suddenly on the west coast of India in the first week of June, and a little later (in the second or third week of June) on the Bengal coast, and extend more or less rapidly into the interior. The prevailing winds of this period are of oceanic origin, and are. in fact, the northward extension of the winds of the south- east trades. The extension of these winds north-