It is not the decaying leaves, but the fresh shoots, which exhibit these brightened colours, the older are still vividly green, whilst the young are bursting forth; and the extremities of the branches present tufts of pale yellow, pink, crimson, and purple, which give them at a distance the appearance of a cluster of flowers.[2] [Footnote 1: Prof.Harvey, Trin.Coll.

Dublin.] [Footnote 2: Some few trees, such as the margosa (_Azadirachta Indica_), the country almond (_Terminalia catappa_), and others, are deciduous, and part with their leaves.

The cinnamon shoots forth in all shades from bright yellow to dark crimson.

The maella _( Olax Zeylanica)_ has always a copper colour; and the ironwood trees of the interior have a perfect blaze of young crimson leaves, as brilliant as flowers.

The lovi-lovi (_Flacourtia inermis_) has the same peculiarity; while the large bracts of the mussaenda (_Mussaenda frondosa_) attract the notice of Europeans for their angular whiteness.] A notice of the variations exhibited by the weather at Colombo may serve as an index to the atmospheric condition of the rest of the island, except in those portions (such as the mountains of the interior, and the low plains of the northern extremity) which exhibit modifications of temperature and moisture incident to local peculiarities.
[Sidenote: Wind N.E.
Temperature, 24 hours: Mean greatest 85.6 deg Mean least 69.2 deg Rain (inches) 3.1] _January_ .-- At the opening of the year, the north-east monsoon, which sets in two months previously, is nearly in mid career.