Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/178

144 till a year is over, and then on the Thursday of the dead once a year in spring (see Quarterly Statement, 1893, p. 317). Most Fellahin put nothing on the tombs except to mark the head and feet, a stone each, and later on look that they be not removed. The tombs of Kariet-el'Enab (Abu Ghosh) are ornamented with tombstones, and sword-lilies are planted on them, but they consider themselves townspeople. At Emmaus, near Latroon, they also plant flowers. I have also seen flowers on the tombs near the 'Ajami, at Beth-Ma'hsir, but this is copied from Abu Ghosh; so at Saris and the villages nearest to towns—Yazur, near Jaffa. The further they are away from towns the less the burial ground is taken care of. I have never seen the Artas people mind the burial-ground or the graves; roads went through in every direction, and so in other villages.



numbers in column 1 of this table show the highest reading of the barometer in each month; of these the highest appear in the winter, and the lowest in the summer months; the maximum for the year is 27·616 inches in both January and December. In column 2 the lowest in each month are shown. The minimum, 26·990 inches, is in March. The range of readings in the year is 0·626 inch. The numbers in the 3rd column show the range of readings in each month; the smallest, 0·199 inch, is in June, and the largest, 0·567 inch, is in March. The numbers in the 4th column show the mean monthly pressure of the atmosphere; the highest, 27·467 inches, is in October, and the lowest, 27·257 inches, in August. The mean pressure for the year is 27·374 inches. At Sarona the mean pressure for the year is 29·826 inches.

The highest temperature of the air in each month is shown in column 5. The highest in the year was 98º, on August 7th; on this day the maximum temperature at Sarona was 90°. The first day in the year the temperature reached 90° was on May 18th, and there were two other days in this month when the temperature reached or exceeded 90°. In June there were 3 days, in July, 5 days; in August, 14 days; and in September, 8 days. Therefore the temperature reached or exceeded 90º on 33 days in the year. At Sarona the highest temperature in the year was 103°, on May 23rd; on this day the maximum temperature at Jerusalem was 89°; the first day in the year the temperature reached 90° was on March 16th, and the temperature reached or exceeded 90° on 24 days in the year at Sarona.

The numbers in column 6 show the lowest temperature in each month; the lowest in the year is 34°·5, which occurred on four different nights in the year, viz.: January 7th, March 19th, and December 30th and 31st.