115.] In Ceylon this is doubtless owing to the air holding in suspension a large quantity of vapour, which receives shadows and reflects rays of light.

The natives, who designate them "Buddha's rays," attach a superstitious dread to their appearance, and believe them to be portentous of misfortune--in every month, with the exception of _May_, which, for some unexplained reason, is exempted.
HEALTH .-- In connection with the subject of "Climate," one of the most important inquiries is the probable effect on the health and constitution of a European produced by a prolonged exposure to an unvarying temperature, upwards of 30 degrees higher than the average of Great Britain.

But to this the most tranquillising reply is the assurance that _mere heat, even to a degree beyond that of Ceylon, is not unhealthy in itself_.

Aden, enclosed in a crater of an extinct volcano, is not considered insalubrious; and the hot season in India, when the thermometer stands at 100 deg.

at midnight, is comparatively a healthy period of the year.