264 Mr Black wi the Climate 



vicissitudes; and the Sirocco there is much complained of by all 

 travellers. 



It is needless to speak of the beautiful and breezy Bay of 

 Naples, the refreshing salubrity of which is proverbial ; but re- 

 markable vicissitudes of climate nevertheless occur on changes 

 of wind from off the sea to the land ; which are again materially 

 modified by the winds sweeping over the Appenines, when co- 

 vered with snow, or reverberating the heat of an autumnal sun, 

 * * ♦ * 



Malta is perhaps as free as any situation in the Mediterra- 

 nean from terrestrial sources of unhealthiness ; and Valetta en- 

 joys a happy immunity from the injurious effects resulting from 

 changes of wind, being situated to the north side, and having its 

 Sirocco winds ameliorated by iheir first traversing the surface of 

 the island. In winter the northerly winds are always rendered 

 more temperate, by their previous passage over the intervening 

 sea, after they leave the cold surface of Europe ; while along 

 the southward of Greece, those winds are then felt in all their 

 original frigidity. The opposite results obtain in the latter part 

 of summer ; the northerly winds are cool at Malta, and hot and 

 dry on the south shores of Greece. I have seen, in March, a 

 fall of hail stones on the island, about an inch in depth ; and at 

 this time of the year, the winds often, from their great and fre- 

 quent changes, lose their distinctive characters ; thus, the south- 

 east, or Sirocco, has been found cloudy, cold and wet ; and the 

 westerly and south-westerly winds neither mild nor warm, — all 

 these anomalies arising from the frequent changes, tossing back- 

 wards and forwards the same mass of atmosphere and clouds. 



Algiers. — Though the plague rages sometimes at this place, 

 yet its natural situation keeps it free from any endemial causes 

 of sickness ; and it may be reckoned a healthy place ; owing to 

 the high land to the southward tempering the heat and dry- 

 ness of the winds of the desert. All winds here from east, 

 through north to west, are damp or foggy in the summer sea- 

 son. 



In August 1824, an interesting coincidence, between the ap- 

 pearance of nineteen cases of febrile commotion and a sudden 

 change of wind, took place off Bona, in the Euryalus frigate. 



