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 entered some of its gates; every ditch is now become a canal, every hole a pool of water, every hollow a placid lake; islands, isthmuses and peninsulas have started into existence, and given new forms and features to the arid landscape, otherwise so tame and dreary. Large boats navigate the public thoroughfares, and excite nearly as much curiosity as an alligator or a dolphin would do; and if the water rises only three feet higher the whole cantonment of Anarkuullee will be under water, and become a peopled jeel."

Again, on the 13th July, I find—

"A week only has passed since a heavy fall of rain took place, yet the weather has become oppressively hot. The thermometer 87° to 90°; the atmosphere is loaded with vapour, so that objects cannot be seen a mile off. One feels as if in a vapour bath; and when sitting on a chair under a punkah, the perspiration trickles down the back in streamlets. I have no strength nor spirits to do any thing, both being below zero, and roll upon a couch most of the day." By the middle of September the heat begins to moderate, and by the 1st October the weather is temperate and agreeable. By the 1st November the temperature is delightful, sharp and frosty, and until the middle of April nothing could surpass the climate, yet six or eight months pass away without an inch of rain falling. Much