IS'.iO.] 4-L [Pepper. 



Eugene with its northeastern and of Mustapha witli its exposure south- 

 eastern, the hxtter being under the predominating influence of the ex- 

 tensive Bay of Algiers. 



The mountains of tliis region have generally a drj- and Ijracing air, 

 with severe cold in winter in the higher altitudes, Avhcre snows last 

 through many months, and where e\'en cases of frozen extremities 

 are not rare. These highlands would in summer have great attractions 

 and advantages as climate stations if they possessed suitable accommoda- 

 tion for sufferers from the heat, debility, or malaria, prevalent in so 

 many parts of the lowlands. Such sanataria would, in many cases, do 

 aAvay with the necessity of the yearly trip to Europe, habitual with an 

 ever-increasing class of the population. 



The general climate in this region, as elsewhere, is 



General cii- ij^t the sum of local climates, with their differences 

 mate the sum of ^j. ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ dampness. As to the latter, it is 



tlie local c 1 1 - . 



mjjtg^_ noticeable that the atmosphere is almost saturated 



on and near the seashore during the sitmmer, except- 

 ing when the wind blows from the desert lying to the south and princi- 

 pally to the southeast ; the dampness being at its maximum when the 

 northeast wind blows ; while further inland the dampness diminishes 

 and finally disappears. Thus, on the seashore and in its proximity the 

 air contains less moisture in winter, although it is the rainy season then 

 and the moisture is most manifest ; that of summer being more per- 

 fectly dissolved in the air, and (excepting when the northeast winds 

 bloAv) being recognized more readily by the hygrometer. The rainy 

 winter months are naturally the damp months in the interior. 



In the prosperous days of old, Algeria and Tunisia 

 Algeria and were relatively thickly wooded, as were most of the 

 Tunisia were countries bathed by the Mediterranean, and they 

 •well-u'ooded and. i i ^i t iii ^i mi 



,^,. . were doubtless more healthy than now. The moun- 



h e a 1 1 h 1 e r 111 •' 



ancient times. tains and hill-sides, the plains and alluvial levels of 



the Tell, as well as some parts of the high plateaux, 

 have appropriate soil for trees, which in the former region would still 

 abound if not systematically ruined by the fires kindled by the Arabs,* 

 and the abuse of pasturage, their almost universal waste of wood, 

 resins and l)arks, among which may be cited valuable cork and tannin 

 barks. 



Actually the fourteen million hectares of the Tell 



Extentofwoods have less than fourteen hundred thousand hectares 



remaining as of forests left, offering scrub or brush, and less fre- 



comparedtotiiat ^^^j although there are fine exceptions, forest 



ot trance. i j> » .,.,,.„ 



trees ; as compared to the seven or eight million of 



* And yet new growths frequently spring np from the ashes of these fires, under the 

 teeth of "the cattle, so to speak ; but only to be tired again to produce new pasturage, 

 until finally in this w(^akly and intermittent existence the beneficial influence exercised 

 on the;climate by trees is reduced to a minimum. 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXV. 150. F. PRINTED MAY 26, 1896. 



