1818.] Temperature of Nice. 171 



summit of Mont Coa, about four miles north of Nice, that the 

 sea breeze, which was felt so pleasant in the valley, did not 

 prevail at that elevated station, about 2,000 feet. I occasionally 

 observed, by the motion of the clouds, that the mistrale, or bise, 

 (a north east wind so well known in Provence) * was passing 

 over our heads, whilst the mild breeze from the sea was blowing 

 upon us. 



The sirocco, or south east wind, sometimes came on about 

 sun-set in a brisk breeze, but at the same time with a mildness 

 which at first quite surprized me ; it was by no means relaxing-, 

 but very agreeable to the feelings ; it generally ceased in the 

 course of the night. The southerly winds sometimes blew with 

 very sudden and rather violent squalls, which, however, com- 

 monly subsided in an hour or two. 



The clearness of the atmosphere was very remarkable ; the 

 moon and the stars appeared very brilliant, and the lofty moun- 

 tains of Corsica, with their snowy summits, were occasionally 

 to be seen by the naked eye rising above the south eastern 

 horizon at a direct distance of about 120 or 130 miles (English)- 

 their forms were most remarkable a few minutes before sun-rise, 

 sometimes presenting very perpendicular sides, and often vary- 

 ing greatly in their apparent outline from day to day. This 

 mountainous island very rarely appeared unattended by clouds 

 even on clear, bright days ; their forms, I remarked, were gene- 

 rally Cumuli (owing no doubt to the coldness of the atmosphere 

 over the snows of those mountains) ; these Cumuli about sun-set 

 sometimes presented a grand and richly coloured mass towering 

 above the horizon to an immense elevation, reflecting the sun's 

 rays for some time after the sun had gone down. 



The clouds which appeared in the field of our observation 

 sometimes afforded much interest in a meteorological point of 

 view. From the concave and sheltered situation of the plain of 

 Nice, so directly exposed to the south, the temperature of the 

 surface of this plain, as well as of the superincumbent atmo- 

 sphere, is rendered more or less considerable, especially as the 



• This wind (styled one of " les fleaux de la Provence), by which this part of 

 France is so much visited, after passing over the High Alps and their immense 

 snows and glaciers, takes its course with increasing violence towards the warm 

 atmosphere of the Mediterranean ; it is particularly violent in the valley of the 

 Rhone. A friend of mine travel ling from Avignon northward up this valley, while 

 this wind was blowing with its usual fierccness^nformed me that he did not appear 

 to get clear of it until he had passed Lyons, allhough I found it still to prevail at 

 Marseilles and Toulon for some days after. It is piercingly cold aud dry, at the 

 same time that it is violent, and in its course blows up the sand about the rivers 

 and the limestone dust off the roads in vast clouds over the country, which is parti- 

 cularly the case about Marseilles, where on those roads there is so much traffic. It 

 lasts in general several days, increasing in velocity and coldness as it seemed 

 almost every hour. (" Laissez-lc," said a native to me, with a significant shake 

 of hishrad, in reply to my observation as this wind was coming on, that it was not 

 so fierce as I was given to expect ; and I had afterwards to remember his answer.) 

 It is felt generally throughout Provence, particularly at Marseille),, Avignon, Mont- 

 p«lier, &c. 



