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part of Europe a climate possessing these qualities 

 (warmtli and dryness) in so eminent a degree during the 

 winter, as that of Upper Egypt. At this season, indeed, 

 the Egyptian climate, in point of warmth, dryness, and 

 steadiness of temperature, is superior to any noticed in 

 the preceding pages (viz. those relating to Europe,) and 

 in regard to the two first named qualities, it surpasses 

 every other climate not within the tropics," mentioned in 

 his work. The great defect of the climate here, as loAver 

 down the Nile valley, is the great difference of tempera- 

 ture between day and night. Happily, however, this is 

 a defect which can be guarded against by very simple 

 precautions. In this respect it contrasts unfavourably 

 with Madeira, as it also does in regard to the difference 

 of temperature between one season and another, and the 

 daily successive range. This remark will apply, in a 

 minor degree, to some other places. The climate of 

 Egypt, however, has, in its union of good qualities, inde- 

 pendent of its dryness, more than counterbalancing 

 recommendations. 



Lepsius tlms writes from Thebes on the 13th October, 

 1843, and his remarks will be just for the greater part of 

 the winter in the Thebaid and Nubia : — 



" No one ever inquires here about the weather, for one 

 day is exactly like the other — serene, clear, and hitherto 

 not too hot. We have no morning or evening red, as 

 there are neither clouds nor vapours ; but the first ray of 

 the morning calls forth a cloud of colours in the bare and 

 rugged limestone mountains closing in aroimd us, and in 

 the brownish glittering desert, contrasted with the black 

 or green-clothed lower plain, such as is never seen in 

 northern coimtries. There is scarcely any twiliglit, as 

 the sun sinks down at once. The separation of night and 

 day is just as sudden as that between meadow and desert — 

 one step, one moment, divides the one from the other. 

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