A little winter would be preferable, as the reawakening of nature, the resuscitation of the slumbering plants, the return of the sweet perfume of spring, enchants us all the more, simply because during a short period we have been deprived of it.
I found the climate and the air exceedingly oppressive; and the heat, although at that period hardly above 86 degrees in the shade, very weakening.

During the warm months, which last from the end of December to May, the heat rises in the shade to 99 degrees, and in the sun to above 122 degrees.

In Egypt, I bore a greater amount of heat with far greater ease; a circumstance which may perhaps be accounted for by the fact, that the climate is there drier, while here there is always an immense degree of moisture.

Fogs and mists are very common; the hills and eminences, nay, even whole tracts of country, are often enveloped in impenetrable gloom, and the whole atmosphere loaded with damp vapours.
In the month of November I was seriously indisposed for a considerable period.

I suffered, especially in the town, from an oppressive feeling of fatigue and weakness; and to the kindness and friendship of Herr Geiger, the Secretary to the Austrian Consulate, and his wife, who took me with them into the country, and showed me the greatest attention, do I alone owe my recovery.