ccessfully with the ocean when in its wildest
moods. Their instinct is to run at once for a safe harbor when a storm
threatens. So with the mariners of the Red Sea, between Aden and Suez,
who will not venture out of port if the hot winds of that region blow
too hard to permit a candle to burn on the forecastle of their vessels.
Asiatics, as a rule, are poor seamen.

A pampero at Montevideo or a norther at Vera Cruz is not much more
disagreeable and destructive than is the gregale at Malta (the
"Euroclydon" of the Scriptures). Nor is one other dreaded visitor much
less objectionable; that is, a strong wind rising on the Egyptian coast,
which, sweeping hitherward, wraps an unwelcome mantle of cold gray mist
about the Maltese group.

This bit of terra firma is so isolated and exposed on all sides that
when any severe weather prevails in "the great middle sea," it must
encounter its entire force. In summer the heat is often aggravated by
the sirocco, a humid, wilting, scorching wind which blows from the
southeast across the African desert, sometimes charged with a fine,
penetrating dust, for which it is difficult satisfactorily to account.
This wind, on leaving Africa, is quite dry; but when it reaches Malta,
having traversed a long expanse of sea, it becomes heavily charged with
vapor, without losing the heat which it borrowed in passing over the
African desert. It subjects those whom it encounters to something very
like a steam bath. Yet regardless of all drawbacks, whose importance we
are by no means inclined to exaggerate, the average winter weather is
considered by many Europeans to be delightful and wholesome, attracting
scores of English invalids and others annually, who are in search of a
temporary home abroad to avoid the dreary London season of fog and
gloom. After giving the subject considerable attention, together with
careful inquiries of local authorities, the author came to the
conclusion that Malta was not a very desirable resort for consumptives;
nor should it be forgotten that a low form of typhoid fever is common
much of the year in Valletta. The dreaded African wind just described
prevails in September and October, often blowing for three or four
consecutive days. It must be a sound constitution which can successfully
withstand its enervating influence. An invalid quickly loses appetite,
courage, and even physical capacity to walk any distance, when the
sirocco prevails.

The winds of the Mediterranea