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INDIA

administration. By the last census returns Simla was
credited with 30,000 inhabitants, of whom 4000 are Europeans,
 and there can be little doubt that the advent of the
railway, which is even now in progress, will much increase
this total. Situated on the sloping spurs of a lofty hill
called Jakko, there is naturally a great range of elevation
between the highest and the lowest residences of the town
—the highest being over 8ooo feet (on the summit of
the hill) and the lowest about 6500. During the early
summer months and in the late autumn the climate is
delightful. The early summer occasionally brings with it
much of the dust-laden atmosphere which then pervades the
plains, and the burnt and barren hill-sides are oppressively
dull in tint and tone, losing all the beauty of colour-perspective
 ; but under clear autumnal skies the crisp freshness
of the air and the beauty of the endless panorama of
snowy hills, or blue plains spreading away from the glorious
 tints of an autumn foreground, are unequalled even in
Switzerland.
Simla is now rapidly developing as a winter residence.
Snow occasionally lies deep, but the cold is never very
severe, and many English residents prefer their comfortable
 homes in the hills to the long and often expensive
journeys entailed by a return to the plains. The disadvantage
 of the Himalayan climate is the periodic return
of the rainy season for a month or two, when the clouddrifts
 envelop hill and gully, and the moisture - laden
atmosphere penetrates into every crevice and corner of
the house, raising a fungus growth which is most detrimental
 to household property. The rainfall varies in the
different hill-stations, but it may be taken at an average
of about 8o inches in the Himalayas, decreasing towards
the north-west where (as at Murree) the full force of the
south-west monsoon is not experienced, and increasing
towards the south-east. The actual rainfall does not,
however, represent the measure of discomfort which is
induced by an atmosphere overcharged with damp. The
shape and position of the minor hill ranges has far more
fo sav to the amount of the cloud envelope which is so