Note {15} — Chapter XVII

Note 15.—The statement about the only rains falling in June, July, and August is perplexing. “It is entirely inapplicable to every part of the Coromandel coast, to which alone the name Ma’bar seems to have been given, but it is quite true of the western coast generally.” (Rev. Dr. C.) One can only suppose that Polo inadvertently applied to Maabar that which he knew to be true of the regions both west of it and east of it. The Coromandel coast derives its chief supply of rain from the north-east monsoon, beginning in October, whereas both eastern and western India have theirs from the south-west monsoon, between June and September.