[Footnote 1:  ADMIRAL FITZROY has described, in his Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, the striking degree in which this simultaneous dissimilarity of climate is exhibited on opposite sides of the Galapagos Islands; one aspect exposed to the south being covered with verdure and freshened with moisture, whilst all others are barren and parched.—­Vol. ii. p. 502-3.  The same state of things exists in the east and west sides of the Peruvian Andes, and in the mountains of Patagonia.  And no more remarkable example of it exists than in the island of Socotra, east of the Straits of Bab el Mandeb, the west coast of which, during the north-east monsoon, is destitute of rain and verdure, whilst the eastern side is enriched by streams and covered by luxuriant pasturage.—­Journ.  Asiat.  Soc.  Beng. vol. iv. p. 141.]

[Illustration:  DIAGRAM EXHIBITING THE COMPARATIVE FALL OF RAIN ON THE SEABORDE OF THE DEEKAN, AND AT COLOMBO, IN THE WESTERN PROVINCE OF CEYLON.

One maximum at the spring change of the monsoon anticipating a little that on the West coast of India; another at the autumnal change corresponding more exactly with that of the East coast.  The entire fall through the year more equably distributed at Columbo.]

On the east coast, on the other hand, the fall, during the north-east monsoon, is very similar in degree to that on the coast of Coromandel, as the mountains are lower and more remote from the sea, the clouds are carried farther inland and it rains simultaneously on both sides of the island, though much less on the west than during the other monsoon.

The climate of Galle, as already stated, resembles in its general characteristics that of Colombo, but, being further to the south, and more equally exposed to the influence of both the monsoons, the temperature is not quite so high; and, during the cold season, it falls some degrees lower, especially in the evening and early morning.[1]

[Footnote 1:  At Point-de-Galle, in 1854, the number of rainy days was as follows: 

Days. 
January       12
February       7
March         16
April         12
May           23
June          18
July          11
August        21
September     16
October       20
November      15
December      13]

Kandy, from its position, shares in the climate of the western coast; but, from the frequency of the mountain showers, and its situation, at an elevation of upwards of sixteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, it enjoys a much cooler temperature.  It differs from the low country in one particular, which is very striking—­the early period of the day at which the maximum heat is attained.  This at Colombo is generally between two and three o’clock in the afternoon, whereas at Kandy the thermometer shows the highest temperature of the day between ten and eleven o’clock in the morning.