204 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. IJail., 



a window to look, as I always did, at some o£ the wonderfully 

 picturesque scenes that lay about our headquarters. I felt at 

 once as if I had put it into the air surrounding a hot furnace. 

 The wand had changed in the night. It made just that dif- 

 ference with the air outside. The house walls are about three 

 feet thick. Of course, you do not notice the change of climate 

 inside. The thickness of the walls keeps the heat absolutely 

 within check. Of course, some of it is bound to find an 

 entrance through the doors and windows, but that morning 

 it had not gotten into the house at all. It was a tremendous 

 change. Moreover, everything was soon covered with a very 

 fine white powder. As the day progressed, the wind still blew 

 from the south, and we knew^ that we were in the midst of 

 one of those winds about which I had heard but had never 

 before experienced. It blew all day a very comfortable sum- 

 mer heat of perhaps eighty, and then the thennometer went up 

 to 82, 84, 85. and at night it stood at 89. We went to bed with 

 considerable trepidation as to what the next day would bring 

 forth. The next morning, although the house was cool, the 

 thermometer standing at about 92, yet as the day progressed 

 it went gradually up to 93 and 95. We went to bed that night 

 wath it climbing close to a hundred. The next day, the third, 

 it went to no, but there is such a dryness that even at that 

 temperature one hardly notices it. I did not notice it as much 

 as I often have in this country when it has gone to 90. Ordi- 

 narily where we were it never went above 90, but in Tripoli 

 even no is not unbearable by any means. By this time, the 

 wind still blowing from the south, the whole air was filled 

 with the little fine dust from the desert. It got into my 

 watch and into my camera. We were invited to this luncheon 

 of which I spoke about this time. I had to go wath an inter- 

 preter because my early education in Turkish and Arabic was 

 sadly neglected. So I always took an interpreter. Wlien we 

 started out, he said, " Where is your tunic ? It is too hot for 

 you to be without it, and that we must keep along in the shade 

 of the walls until we got to the place." 



When we reached the house the doors were immediately 

 opened and it almost seemed ilke stepping into another climate, 

 going into that large house surrounded with solid masonry and 

 stone. I wished I had my thermometer there to measure the 

 difference, but I think it must have been no outside. The 



