228 
TEHERAN. 
at 5.1° Fahrenheit. On the 10th, throughout the whole day, there 
was much snow; indeed on the following morning, when the thermo¬ 
meter was at 47°, the heat of the sun produced a partial thaw, which 
was succeeded by a frost so sharp, that before the close of the day, an 
officer of the suite, who weighed fourteen stone, was able to walk and 
slide upon a square reservoir before the Dewan Khonfih, even though 
the surface had been already broken at one corner. The fall of snow 
was a seasonable supply of moisture to the country, which had long 
been without any. On the new moon of March (the 15th of the 
month) the rain begun, and for some days continued regularly, clearing 
up about four or five hours before sunset, and gathering again at 
night. From the height of the walls which surrounded us, and the 
want of weathercocks or chimnies, I could collect but imperfectly the 
quarter of the wind; but, as far as I could judge, it was generally 
from the S. E. There is a wind sometimes rushing from the Albores 
on the N. of the bleakness of which the natives speak with dread. 
From the 23d March (the first quarter of the moon) we had the true 
ethereal mildness of spring, with light breezes from the westward in 
the evening. Vegetation was making rapid advances: the rose-trees 
in the court of our house were already green, and the chenars had just 
begun to bud. The snow on the Albores was diminishing fast; and 
the weather generally, which sometimes lowered and then brightened 
up, was that of an English spring. The thermometer was about 6l° 
to 64°, but in the middle of the day it reached 75°, and the heat in 
the close streets of the town was very sensible. In the first week of 
April the mornings were beautiful; but about noon a hot wind set in 
from the S. E. which increased towards the evening, and died away 
at night. About the second week the weather became cooler. Every 
thing was in high foliage, and all our horses were at grass. The heat 
was then becoming great: on the 19th the thermometer was at 82° in 
the shade, and at night we had thunder and lightning with a thick haze 
over the Albores. On the 21st the temperature, which in the interval 
