CLIMATE OF BAGDAD. 261 
those they packed on the backs of asses, and carried whence 
they came. 
I am informed that a curiously formed vessel, of a crescent- 
shape, carrying one mast and a large latteen-sail, which trades 
between Bagdad and Bussorah, may, under a fair wind, reach the 
latter place in six or seven days; but the voyage, at all times 
dangerous from the piratical Arabs on each side, is not now to be 
attempted, unless the expedition amounts to a fleet of these 
lunar barks, in sufficient numbers to overawe the marauders 
from the shore. 
The latitude of Bagdad, from the mean observations taken by 
Mr. Rich and others, is 33° 19' 40'', and the longitude east of 
Greenwich, 44° 44' 4 5". The climate, in general, has the ad¬ 
vantage of parts of Persia, in not being variable in such violent 
extremes; but then its warmest months are certainly insuf¬ 
ferable, from the abiding effects of the forty days prevalence of 
the consuming samiell. At that season, the thermometer fre¬ 
quently mounts in the shade, from 120 to 140 degrees of heat, 
according to Fahrenheit. Hence it may easily be conceived that 
winter is the most genial season here; and the inhabitants tell 
me, that the air then becomes soft, and of the most delightful 
salubrity ; particularly, they say, from the fifteenth of Novem¬ 
ber to about the middle of January. At present, towards the 
latter end of October, while I am writing, the skirts of the 
“ withering blast,” seem to be yet hovering over us; the heat 
standing at 90, and has been from that to 93, on an average, 
ever since my arrival. When the heat approaches ten degrees 
beyond this point, the inhabitants betake themselves to the 
refuge of certain arched apartments, called the Zardaub ; con¬ 
structed deep in the foundations of the house, for this very 
