DEWLESS REGIONS. 255 



brick, and it is then exceedingly dangerous to ride at speed 

 over it, a horse's foot making no more impression and 

 having no more hold upon it, than upon stone flagging. 



In dry regions this sort of weather may last without a 

 break for months, during which not a single drop of rain 

 falls ; each day as it comes round sees the sun arise in 

 undiminished splendour, and as constantly pass across 

 the meridian off a sky where clouds are rarely visible. 

 Welcome therefore, both to man and beast, is the 

 approach of evening during the hot season ; when it 

 comes to bring relief from the suffocating heat and glare 

 of the day ! and blessed is the refreshing coolness and 

 tranquillity of the night, with its soft, balmy airs, its 

 brilliantly starlit sky, and its marvellous effects of 

 " chiaro-oscuro" created by the bright silvery whiteness 

 of the moonbeams, ' when shown in contrast with the 

 intense blackness of the shadows. In these regions 

 the advent of night is thus always marked by a sense 

 of restful enjoyment, the true dole c far nientc, unknown 

 to dwellers in more temperate climates. 



Over large areas in South Africa in the hot season 

 the nights are endowed with an additional charm, 

 inasmuch as they are absolutely dewless, and a man 

 may sit or lie out for hours after darkness has fallen, 

 without his clothes getting in the slightest degree moist- 

 ened by dews. This is very different in damp tropical 

 climates, where the heavy dews will wet garments 

 completely through in a very short space of time. In 

 malarious districts especially, therefore, exposure at this 

 time ought to be most carefully avoided, and when it 

 is necessary to go out at night, it is better to wait 

 for some hours, until the evening dew-fall has termin- 

 ated. Dewless regions are rarely malarious. 



