Geology.

The rock of the district is trap. In the plains it is found in tabular masses a few feet below the soil and sometimes standing out from the surface. In the hills it is tabular and is also found in irregular masses and shapeless boulders varying from a few inches to several feet in diameter. In many places the surface of the trap has a rusty hue showing the presence of iron. [Bom. Gov. Sel. New Series (1854), VII. 3.]

Hot Springs.

There are three hot springs, at Unheri near Nagothna and at Son and Kondivti in Mahad. The spring at Unheri Budruck, about six miles north-east of Nagothna, is in a plain close to the fort and old town of Pali. From Nagothna to Unheri the road takes a great curve, about two miles south one mile east and three miles north. The spring has a cistern of cut stone twenty-live cubits square and floored with wood. The water is three feet deep. The springs at Son and at Kondivti, about a mile and a half east of Mahad, are about fifteen feet above the sea level and have three cisterns of cut stone, two for upper class Hindus and Musalmans, and one for Mhars and other low caste people. One of the cisterns at Son was described in 1837 as about nine feet long seven broad and two deep, floored with strong planks perforated to let the water pass through, and with sides of red stone. The temperature of the water was 109° both at the surface and in the holes in the floor. The stream that runs from the well is used in growing rice. The water is insipid and sulphurous to the taste, though on analysis no trace of iron, sulphur, alkali, or iodine was found. The Kondivti spring, whose cistern is in ruins, is somewhat cooler than the Son spring. The cisterns were formerly much frequented by persons suffering from skin diseases, dyspepsia, and rheumatism. [Bom. Med. and Phy. Soc. Trans, (1838), I. 258.] People of all castes still bathe in the springs, but none stay for any time.

Climate.

The year may be roughly divided into four seasons, the rains from June to October, the damp hot weather in October and November, the cold weather from December to March, and the dry hot weather from March to June, The climate of Alibag differs somewhat from the rest of the district. The rainfall, averaging about eighty inches, is said to be lighter than in parts nearer the Sahyadris, the air at other times is damper, it is free from- hot winds, and has almost always some sea breeze.

In the end of May large masses of clouds begin to gather and pile over the Sahyadris. The westerly breeze, that has been blowing for weeks, lulls, and, after one or two showers, the rains burst, generally with heavy thunderstorms, in the first fortnight of june. The south-west wind again freshens, and blows, more or less fiercely or fitfully according to the season, till the end of September. In ordinary years, during most of this time, the sky is covered with clouds, the bursts of rain and wind being fiereest in the latter part of June and throughout July. The air is cool and fresh, and from the damp sometimes feels almost cold. In the drier years the rain ceases for days, or even for a week or a fortnight, sometimes with a pleasant strong breeze, but generally with some still steamy days before the rain again sets in. The rain returns, which are given below in detail, show for Alibag for the twenty-three years ending 1880, a fall varying from 144 to 40 and averaging about eighty inches. There is a general local belief that the rainfall in the inland sub-divisions is much heavier than in Alibag. In most parts of the district, except towards their close, the rains are considered healthy.

Either a little before or a little after the beginning of October the south-west wind drops and the rain ceases. Clouds continue to hang about and occasionally, with a warm wind from the east, there are severe thunderstorms. The air is charged with electricity, the sea breeze fails, and the nights are close and oppressive. This is the unhealthiest part of the year. By the middle of November, as the nights lengthen, the mornings grow cool and the land wind begins to blow before daybreak and the sea breeze in the afternoon.

December, January and February are the cool months, generally with dear nights and heavy dews. Along the coast the sun is seldom oppressive, and the nights, though cool, are not often cold. Inland and to the south, except for a few weeks in January and February, the middle of the days are hot and the nights, especially in parts where there are streams and forests, sometimes feel bitterly sold. There is generally a breeze in the morning, but the afternoons and evenings are often still. During the whole of the cold weather there are occasional cloudy days, with still warm nights. In March the dews begin to fail, and, in the inland parts, the days begin to grow hot. The heat increases in April and May, becoming oppressive in the inland parts of the district with hot trying winds. [In (April-May) 1771, when. Mr. Forbes went to see the hot springs near Dasgeon, the heat of the sun was overpowering. Hot winds generally prevailed from the middle of March till the beginning of the rainy season. These scorching bleats began about ten in the morning and continued till sunset: by noon the blackwood furniture became like heated metal, the water more than tepid and the air so parching that few Europeans could long bear it, were it not for the coolness of the nights to lessen in a great degree the heat of the day. At Dasgaon the thermometer at sunrise in the house was seldom above eighty degrees; but at noon on the same day it often rose to 112. Orient. Mem. I.193. On his way from Dasgaon to Mandva on the Alibag coast, near Khandad, a, village twelve miles north of Dasgaon, the hot winds set in and blew furiously for many hours. ' Clouds of dust,' he wrote, ' burning like the ashes of a furnace continually overwhelmed us; and we were often surrounded by the little whirlwinds, called bagalyas or devils, a name not ill-applied to their peculiar characteristics of heat, activity, and mischief.' Ditto, 905.] As the west breeze freshens in May, it is felt over the greater part of the district, and, in west Alibag, and in some parts of Roha and Pen where it blows free and strong, the climate in May is healthy and pleasant. Except for cold weather fevers in the wilder forest tracts, and for occasional outbreaks of cholera in the hot weather, the climate, from December to June, is generally healthy.

The following statement shows that in Alibag, during the twenty-three years ending 1880, the rainfall varied from 144 inches in 1878 to forty in 1871 and averaged eighty inches:

Alibag Rainfall, 1858-1880.

The Alibag thermometer readings, for the five years ending 1879, show that May is the hottest month with an extreme maximum of 95.2 and an extreme minimum of 80.0, and January the coldest month with an extreme maximum of 87.0 and an extreme minimum of 62.6. The mean daily range of the thermometer is greatest, 15.4, in January and least 3.4, in July. The following statement gives the details:

Alibag Thermometer Readings, 1875-1879.

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