CLIMATE. 77 



particularly to invalids, whose comfort depends so much on 

 the capability of taking exercise : it pi-esents the actual 

 state of the weather for 366 days, from 1st March, 1831, to 

 29th February, 1832, which, from all I can learn, may be 

 considered an average season : 



Number of days of heavy rain, 19 



Do. occasional showers with fair intervals, 81 



Do. cloudy, 28 



Do. clear and fine, 238 



366 



It is moreover satisfactory to be able to state, that on a 

 great majority of the days marked showery, the showers 

 occur at intervals, generally in the afternoon, and that the 

 state of the atmosphere in the morning at least, is generally 

 such as to afford every facility for taking exercise either on 

 foot or horseback. 



The course of the seasons is subject to considerable varia- 

 tions, so that it is not easy to give an exact account of them. 

 The following, however, may be considered as a pretty fair 

 statement of their usual succession. 



The month of January, is uniformly fair, clear, and dry ; the 

 nights are very cold, and it often freezes in the valleys, while 

 in the morning, before the wind has risen, the rays of the 

 sun are very powerful. Towards 10 or 11 a. m., a current 

 of cold air begins to blow from the E. or N. E., and gradu- 

 ally increases to a strong breeze, sharp and intensely cold. 

 The united action of the sun and this wind acts very un- 

 pleasantly on the skin, particularly of the face and lips, 

 which it blisters like a frost at home. It is also rather 

 trying to the more delicate classes of invalids, before they 



