2
Along the west coast of Salsette are a series of what at one time were
sea rocks, but which, by the gradual silting up of the creeks by alluvium, are
now only separated from the land by the flats. The villages of Bháyndar,
Dongri, Uttan, Gorai, Manori, Marva, Malavni, Akse, Yerangal, Marh, Daravli,
Vesáve, Juhu and Bándra are all built upon islets recently more or less assimilated
to the land in this way. In some of those places the trap shows itself and forms
considerable ridges. In some it occurs in different stages of disintegration as
muram, red earth and even soil on which rice and rabi crops can be grown.
In other places any soil that has formed has been obliterated by blown sand,
which forms dunes that line the shores opposite some of the villages.
Coincidently with the process of silting up of the creeks there is in pro-
gress at some places a process of coast erosion going on which by the end of
each monsoon noticeably alters the outline of the shore of certain localities,
such as the islet of Juhu, to the North, of Bándra.
CLIMATE AND RAINFALL.—There being no observatory on the
island of Salsette no record of the temperature is available. The climate of the
west coast is very much like that of Bombay, where January has an average
mean temperature of 73•9° and May one of 84•7°. In the eastern or inland
parts of Salsette the temperature varies considerably with the variations in
geographical and geological formation.
In Bombay, as shown by the records of the Colába Observatory, winds
are northerly in November, December, January and February. From the middle
of March they begin to change to a westerly direction, and from the beginning
of April to the end of September the prevailing direction of the wind is westerly;
during the first half of October winds are unsteady and slowly change to a
northerly direction. The south-west monsoon breaks in June, is at its height
in July and August, and is over early in October. The north-east monsoon
occasionally gives showers in November and December.
The following statement gives the total rainfall for the years 1902 to
1911 at Kurla and Thána. The greater precipitation at Thána is due to the
influence of the hills of Salsette, which lie between the town and the sea.
Even at Kurla the rainfall is slightly greater than at places actually on the
coast:—
Year.
1902 .
1903 .
1904 ...
1905 .
1906 .
Rainfall
at Kurla
in inches.
77 62
103-62
60•89
43 78
72•22
Rainfall
at Thána
in inches.
81•17
126•97
91•98
58•32
84•48
Year.
1907
1908 ...
1909
1910
1911
Rainfall
at Kurla
in inches.
97•71
82•31
105 01
74• 71
54•22
Rainfall
at Thána
in inches.
105•38
87•65
113•66
82•88
71•92
TREES AND CROPS.—Part of the central hill area is under " forest
the term being used in its technical sense. But almost everywhere, from the
hill area right down to the alluvium, the soil of Salsette island supports a growth
of trees and long grass, only interrupted by the rice-fields which cover so large
an area of the island, Round the villages the commonest trees one finds are the
Amb (Mangofera), the Chinch (Tamarindus), the Sitäphal (Anona), the
Bhendï (Thespesia), the Karanj (Pongamia), the Sag (Tectona), the Rajau
(Mimusops), the Bor (Zizyphus), the Kaju (Anacardium), and, among palms,
the Tad (Borassus}, the Naral (Cocos) and the Shindi (PhcBnix). So near a
large city, both the long grass and the produce of many of the trees form a
considerable commercial asset. Even the villas that line the G hod bandar road,
near each of the-railway stations of the B. B. & C. I. Railway, from Andheri
northwards, and which are at once the hope and the despair of the town-planner,
are enveloped in palm or mango-orchards supporting a rank growth of grass.