128 Shidy of Ihe New York Obelisk as a Decayed Boulder. 



11. Climate of Alexandria. 



As the unanimous conclusion of the authors just quoted was to 

 attribute the decayed condition of the surface of the obelisks to the 

 damp and saline atmosphere of Alexandria, it is pertinent to con- 

 sider here some notes on the climate of that city, in comparison 

 with that of Upper Eo:ypt. M. Gratien-Le-Pere, Chief-En<?ineer of 

 the Corps Royal des Fonts et Chaussees, in the French Expedition 

 to Eirypt in 1801, states: "The climate of Alexandria is quitf 

 healthy; although very warm in summer, this is tempered by the 

 coolness of the nights. The dews of evening, especially in the 

 season of the Etesian winds, are here, as in the entire maritime 

 border of Egypt, of a saline dampness which penetrates all bodies. 

 Winter is very rainy at Alexandria.'" 



Yiscount Yaleutia, in 1802, observed: "The climate is by no 

 means unpleasant, as the heat is tempered in summer by the strong 

 gales, which almost constantly blow from the north, and carry with 

 them the thick black clouds, that, after breaking on the mountains 

 of the interior of Africa, return in the floods of the Nile to fertilize 

 the plains of Egypt. "'^ 



In Southern Egypt, during the summer (April to October), the 

 temperature varies during the day from 100° to 112° F. in the 

 shade; in Northern Egypt it is cooler. The minimum rarely falls 

 below 40° F. In the French Expedition, the observers noted a 

 minimum of BQ^° F., in January, 1799; the average during the 

 night was 46° F. In 1874, a minimum temperature of 23° F. was 

 observed by Rohlf in the Libyan desert. In the Upper Nile val- 

 ley, showers ordinarily fall only on about 5 or 6 days in the year ; 

 heavy rains are rare, occurring about once in 15 or 20 years. It is 

 commonly stated that frost and snow are wholly unknown in Egypt; 

 vet it is recorded that frost has been seen at Cairo,' and in the Alge- 

 rian desert, in latitude but a few degrees further north, snow fell 

 in the year 1847. 



At Alexandria, " rain is as common in winter as it is in the south 

 of Europe. But during the rest of the year, as little falls as in the 

 upper country ; and at 50 or 60 miles from the coast, the winter 

 rains cease, the climate of Cairo being no less dry than that of the 

 Thebaid."* 



1 Gratien-Le-Pere, op. cit., Ill, 279. « Valentia, op. cit., 4GG. 



3 Foissac, op. cit., II, 263. * Rawlinson, Hist. Anc. Egypt, 1,43. 



