PIERCING DRY WINDS. 399 



intensity of the cold being such that he says "rugs 

 alone, especially cloth rugs, are 'nowhere' in this 

 weather," and he appends in a footnote, some sarcastic 

 observations, respecting " the learned and expert gentle- 

 men who undertook to furnish a stately paper on the 

 ' Personal Equipment of Officers ' in a volume of the 

 United Service Institution where they say offhand, 

 * one needs no warm clothes whatever in Egypt.' " * 

 Our own personal experience is, that without proper 

 warm clothing, people run a very good chance of 

 getting congestion of the lungs, and perhaps becoming 

 dangerously ill. In Spain, which is very subject to 

 these keen dry winds, the Spaniards have a proverb, 

 often used in Madrid, to the effect that 



"El aire de Madrid es tan sotil 



Que mata a un hombre, y no apaga a un candil," 

 that is, " So subtle is the air of Madrid, that it kills 

 a man, and does not put out a candle." Such is a 

 literal fact, within our own cognizance. Instances, 

 we regret to say, are not uncommon, of a beautiful 

 Spanish girl going out to a ball, during the prevalence 

 of these icy winds, being struck down by pneumonia 

 on returning home, and being dead and buried within 

 a week. So also in the Egyptian deserts, with an 

 intensely bright hot sun, there is sometimes an air so 

 keen, that the instant one enters the shade it cuts 

 like a razor, and penetrates right through the thickest 

 clothing, and this continues to blow for many days 

 at a time. 



There can be no doubt that these hasty conclusions 

 and generalizations upon the subject of natural phenomena 

 about climate must often prove a subject of regret 



* Desert Life, by B. Solymos, 1 880, p. 12. 



