THE MIRACLE OF THE MONSOON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6901, 15 September 1900, Page 1

THE MIRACLE OF THE MONSOON.

In another two weeks, or three (says the correspondent of the " Daily Mail," writing from Cannanore, under date, May 20), the monsoon will be here, and we shall witness again the great? annual miracle with delight which nothing can destroy. For the bursting of the rain-clouds millions are praying before many altars and to Gods q{ many creeds back in India, They supplicate for copious efliowers to turn the burnt wilderness into fruitful fields. In Malabar we shall see the change wrought before our eyes, as it has been worked every year unfailingly. It is a sight marvellous to behold. Scientists will tell you that Ihe monsoon is a wind-current, which, rising among the mountains of the moon in the heart of Africa, below the equator, crosses the Indian Ocean in increasing force, gathering rain clouds as it goes. It strikes the toe of India, and there splits in two. The larger seotkn, travels along the -western coast, watering Malabar and Mysore. Bombay and Guzerat, and Central India; the smaller section swoops up the Bay of Bengal, and through the valley of the Ganges and other large rivers. On the borders of the Panjaub the two currents re-unite, and finally lose themselves iv a drizzle end mist among the valleys of the Himalayas or in the rugged passes cf Afghanistan. THE SEASONS CHANGED IN AN HOUR. The monsoon has burst here. The news is telegraphed from Colombo 5 the same news a day or two later comes from Quilon, from Travancore; then from Cochin. New the fishermsn will tell you the exact hour of its arrival here. • The morning dawns brightly. The air is hot, heavy, as it has been for weeks past. In spite of thunderstorms, the level stretches between the hills, where the palm groves and pepper gardens are, remain bare brown soil. That is in the morning. At noon a mutter of thunder m heard to the south-west." A wall of dark cloud rises above, the horizon. Quickly it turns into a cave of purple gloom, where lightnings play and thunctara growl louder and louder. The sea grows grey, and hurls with wild ra.ge its sorrowful waters en reef and shore. A wind springs vp — a gracious breeze, soft, damp, and, oh, so refreshing. After the windil comes the rain, a grey cataract of blending waters. In that one hour the seasons faeve changed, utterly and completely. The hot: weather is dead, with its sleepless nights and its torture of prickly heat. The rains — tilie blessed cool rainy season — lias begun. Now behold the greatest miracle within the space of a day ; the bare earth i» clothed in verdure-<-a gossamer garment on the first day ; on the second day the texture is closer and thicker ; and on the third the whole landscape is a vista of fairest green. Every wall, aye, <md every stone, becomes a clump of maidenhair.