A mirage fills the hollows with mimic water; the heat in close apartments becomes extreme, and every living creature flies to the shade from the suffocating glare of mid-day.

At length the sea exhibits symptoms of an approaching change, a ground swell sets in from the west, and the breeze towards sunset brings clouds and grateful showers.

At the end of the month the mean temperature attains its greatest height during the year, being about 83 deg.

in the day, and 10 deg.

lower at night.
[Sidenote: Wind N.W.to S.W.
Temperature, 24 hours: Mean greatest 87.2 deg.
Mean least 72.9 deg.
Rain (inches) 13.3] _May_ is signalised by the great event of the change of the monsoon, and all the grand phenomena which accompany its approach.
It is difficult for any one who has not resided in the tropics to comprehend the feeling of enjoyment which accompanies these periodical commotions of the atmosphere; in Europe they would be fraught with annoyance, but in Ceylon they are welcomed with a relish proportionate to the monotony they dispel.
Long before the wished-for period arrives, the verdure produced by the previous rains becomes almost obliterated by the burning droughts of March and April.