A Good Authority Assures Us, That "The Heat Of Malta
Is Most Oppressive, So Much So, As To Justify The Term 'implacable,'
Which Is Often Applied To It.
The sun, in summer, remains so long
above the horizon, and the stone walls absorb such an enormous
quantity
Of heat, that they never have sufficient time to get
cool; and during the short nights, this heat radiates from them so
copiously, as to render the nights, in fact, as hot as the days, and
much more oppressive to the feelings of those who are accustomed
to associate the idea of coolness with darkness. I have seen the
thermometer, in a very sheltered part of my house, steadily maintain,
during the night, the same height to which it had arisen in the day,
while I marked it with feelings of incalculably increased oppression,
and this for three successive weeks in August and September, 1822."
At Malta, we were recommended, in consequence of the unsettled state
of affairs between Mehemet Ali and the European powers, to proceed
forthwith to Egypt, and though strongly tempted to prolong my stay in
the island, I thought it advisable to make the best of my way to the
Red Sea, and defer the pleasure, which a more protracted residence
promised, until my return in the ensuing year. Lieut. Goldsmith, our
kind commandant of the Megara, called upon us, according to promise,
to conduct us on board the new steamer, the Volcano, the vessel
appointed to carry the mails on to Alexandria.
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