t and unhealthy season of the year.

Malarial and muggy though it is, September scarcely merits all the
evil epithets that are applied to it. The truth is that, after the
torrid days of the hot weather and the humid heat of the rainy season,
the European is thoroughly weary of his tropical surroundings, his
vitality is at a low ebb, he is languid and irritable, thus he
complains bitterly of the climate of September, notwithstanding the
fact that it is a distinct improvement on that of the two preceding
months.

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