Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/147

Rh which hangs like a pall over the river valley, adds appreciably to the gloom of the whole picture. Indeed, for general unpleasantness the climate would appear to rival that of our own country. Listen to the opinion of those who live there. "The climate of Ch'ung-k'ing is without doubt depressing to a degree to foreigners. The dreary skies and damp mists prevailing between November and March, the fierce heat of summer and practical absence of spring and autumn—meaning a quick change from hot to cold, and vice versa,—are most trying to all; add to this the effects of isolation, residence within the city (and all that it implies), together with want of means for exercise and absence of amusement, and it is plain that everything combines to produce a state of mental and nervous depression, and perhaps a low standard of vitality." Happy foreign residents! Even the Chinese seem to have noticed that there is something abnormal about the murkiness of their climate, for they have a proverb which declares that the dogs of