508 PERIODS OF RESTING 



by coolness and dryness, while the summer is rainy and very 

 hot; and in extra-tropical comitries the two seasons vary in 

 their character, according to latitude and local circumstances. 



In some parts of Persia, Armenia, and Mesopotamia, the 

 summer heats are excessive, while the winters are rendered 

 cold by the proximity of mountains. Bagdad is described as 

 having a cold winter, because of the proximity of the mountains 

 of Koordistan ; yet its heats are intense: in August, 1819, the 

 thermometer stood at 130° in the coldest parts of the house, 

 and at 108° at midnight in the open air. This was preceded 

 by heavy rains, which raised the Euphrates 7j feet above the 

 ordinary level : the whole country was like a vapour bath, and 

 multitudes of persons dropped down dead : twenty-two in three 

 days in a siagle caravan. In the northern provinces of Mexico 

 the winters are of German rigour, while the summers are those 

 of Naples and Sicily ; the Tierra fria of its southern provinces 

 has however a very dififerent chmate, the mean heat of the 

 summer being 76°, and the winters so mild that the thermo- 

 meter only occasionally falls below 33°. 



At the Cape of Good Hope there are districts in which the 

 period of wet is long and very severe ; and many of the favour- 

 ite flowers of our gardens are produced by those districts. 

 The Karroos are plains of great extent, destitute of running 

 water, with a soil of clay and sand, coloured like yellow ochre 

 by the presence of iron, and lying on the solid rock. During 

 the dry season the rays of the sun reduce the soil nearly to the 

 hardness of brick : Fig-Marigolds, Stapelias, and other fleshy 

 plants, alone remain green ; nevertheless, the bulbs and tubers 

 of Irids and other plants are able to survive beneath the sun- 

 scorched crust, which appears indeed to be necessary to their 

 nature. But in the wet season these bulbs are gradually 

 reached by the rain ; they swell beneath the earth ; and at last 

 develope themselves so simultaneously that the arid plains 

 become at once the seat of a charming verdure. Presently 

 afterwards, myriads of the gay flowers of Irids and Mesembry- 

 anthemums display their brilliant colours : but in a few weeks 

 the verdure fades, the flowers disappear, hard dry stalks alone 

 remain; the hot sun of August, when in those latitudes the 



