In the early part of the month the weather differs little from that of July and August.  The days are somewhat shorter and the sun’s rays somewhat less powerful, in consequence the average temperature is slightly lower.  Normally the rains cease in the second half of the month.  Then the sky resumes the fleckless blueness which characterises it during the greater part of the year.  The blue of the sky is more pure and more intense in September than at other times, except during breaks in the monsoon, because the rain has washed from the atmosphere the myriads of specks of dust that are usually suspended in it.

The cessation of the rains is followed by a period of steamy heat.  As the moisture of the air gradually diminishes the temperature rises.  But each September day is shorter than the one before it, and, hour by hour, the rays of the sun part with some of their power.  Towards the end of the month the nights are cooler than they have been for some time.  At sunset the village smoke begins to hang low in a diaphanous cloud—­a sure sign of the approaching cold weather.  The night dews are heavy.  In the morning the blades of grass and the webs of the spiders are bespangled with pearly dewdrops.  Cool zephyrs greet the rising sun.  At dawn there is, in the last days of the month, a touch of cold in the air.

The Indian countryside displays a greenness which is almost spring-like; not quite spring-like, because the fierce greens induced by the monsoon rains are not of the same hues as those of the young leaves of spring.  The foliage is almost entirely free from dust.  This fact adds to the vernal appearance of the landscape.  The jhils and tanks are filled with water, and, being overgrown with luxuriant vegetation, enhance the beauty of the scene.  But, almost immediately after the cessation of the rains, the country begins to assume its usual look.  Day by day the grass loses a little of its greenness.  The earth dries up gradually, and its surface once more becomes dusty.  The dust is carried to the foliage, on which it settles, subduing the natural greenery of the leaves.  No sooner do the rains cease than the rivers begin to fall.  By November most of them will be sandy wastes in which the insignificant stream is almost lost to view.

The mimosas flower in September.  Their yellow spherical blossoms are rendered pale by contrast with the deep gold hue of the blooms of the san (hemp) which now form a conspicuous feature of the landscape in many districts.  The cork trees (Millingtonia hortensis) become bespangled with hanging clusters of white, long-tubed, star-like flowers that give out fragrant perfume at night.

The first-fruits of the autumn harvest are being gathered in.  Acre upon acre of the early-sown rice falls before the sickle.  The threshing-floors once again become the scene of animation.  The fallow fields are being prepared for the spring crops and the sowing of the grain is beginning.