On the Climate of Sennar. 97 



refreshing shelter to herds of oxen and camels ; the cultivated 

 fields are clothed with crops of grain in every direction. 



The rains of a European summer not only renovate vegeta- 

 tion, when sinking under the effects of excessive drought, but 

 impart new life and vigour to the human frame. The fresh 

 and elastic temperature of the air reanimates our mental and 

 bodily faculties ; the atmosphei'e, rich with the perfume of the 

 glade and garden, draws us from our dwellings with its volup- 

 tuous breath ; the heavens become serener, a fine morning 

 ushers in a more delicious evening, and our whole soul is knit 

 with greater festivity, and energy, and activity. Never do we 

 enjoy existence so thoroughly as at such a moment as this. An 

 effect, the very reverse of this picture, takes place under the 

 Nubian sky. The first impressions which the novelty of the 

 scene has excited, are quickly succeeded by indifference and 

 disgust. A damp oppressive wind blows from the south with- 

 out cessation, during the rainy season. Our appetite fails us, 

 our strength succumbs, and our mind is stultified, as if blasted 

 by its malignant breath. A state of absolute torpor takes pos- 

 session of our every sense. However heavy may have been the 

 shower, the heavens never entirely recover their serenity, but 

 murky clouds flit across their face, threatening a fresh descent. 

 * * * The great variableness of the temperature destroys the 

 equilibrium of health ; the broiling sun of the mid-day is the 

 harbinger of a piercing breeze : the atmosphere, surcharged 

 with moisture, keeps our clothes and furniture in a state of con- 

 stant humidity ; and thence proceed stoppage of the circulation 

 and rheumatic affections. A thick stratum of viscid mud puts 

 an end to all intercourse with the adjacent parts ; and the ca- 

 mel himself, whom nature, seems to have created for the pecu- 

 liar use of these climates, becomes, for the moment, a useless in- 

 cumbrance, though he is the only beast of burthen. Innume- 

 rable swarms of noxious insects, — flies of every form and size, — 

 gnats and ants of various species, arise, gorged with a green- 

 coloured liquid, from the slime of this universal marsh, as if 

 they had been generated by putrescence ; and they cover every 

 liole and corner of the houses. Add to this, the roofs being 

 composed of mud, on the appearance of an impending shower, 



APRIL JL'NE 1829. G 



