From this it may be seen that Algiers possesses a very desirable climate all the year round, though a trifle too rainy in late autumn.
The figures are those of the year 1901, as the French Government does not appear to have furnished the library with mean normal results.
Malta.
—Owing to the large number of our officers and men serving there, the climate of this small island, which is delightful during the winter, is of interest to many, but it perhaps barely merits the name of a hot climate. While resembling in some respects the climate of southern Italy, it approximates more closely to that of northern Africa, the rainfall being very scanty.
The following are the principal climatic data:—
| Valetta. Lat. 35° 54′ N.; Long. 14° 30′ E.; nearSea Level. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Months | Mean Maximum Temperature | Mean Minimum Temperature | Relative Humidity | Rainfall | Remarks | |||
| F. | C. | F. | C. | % | Ins. | Mm. | ||
| January | 60·2 | 15·7 | 50·1 | 10·0 | 78 | 5·51 | 139·7 | Total Annual Rainfall, 17·1 ins., or 40·3 cm. |
| February | 63·0 | 17·2 | 50·3 | 10·2 | 79 | 1·04 | 26·2 | |
| March | 63·4 | 16·8 | 49·8 | 9·9 | 73 | 1·04 | 26·2 | |
| April | 65·6 | 18·5 | 52·4 | 11·3 | 78 | 2·18 | 55·2 | |
| May | 72·3 | 22·4 | 59·1 | 15·0 | 78 | 0·55 | 14·0 | |
| June | 80·7 | 27·0 | 64·9 | 18·3 | 72 | 0·38 | 10·0 | |
| July | 88·0 | 31·1 | 70·6 | 21·3 | 70 | 0·00 | 0·0 | |
| August | 84·9 | 29·4 | 70·7 | 21·4 | 77 | 0·02 | 0·1 | |
| September | 83·3 | 28·5 | 68·7 | 20·4 | 77 | 0·10 | 2·5 | |
| October | 81·7 | 27·5 | 67·3 | 19·8 | 78 | 0·60 | 15·2 | |
| November | 71·1 | 21·7 | 59·0 | 15·0 | 83 | 3·64 | 92·5 | |
| December | 62·6 | 16·8 | 52·2 | 11·2 | 85 | 1·04 | 26·2 | |
During the summer, periods of hot dry winds blowing from the burning African deserts are somewhat trying, but these do not, as a rule, last for many consecutive days, and on the whole the climate is not unhealthy.
A peculiar infective fever, commonly known as “Malta fever,” but also met with in other parts of the Mediterranean littoral, as well as in India, and very troublesome on account of its obstinate tendency to relapse, is the most serious drawback in the matter of disease, but under improving modern sanitation the disease is yearly becoming less common.
The climate of the Syrian coast is very similar, but somewhat warmer, with a heavier rainfall; so also is that of Algiers and the North African coast generally, there being, however, mostly a wider range between the hottest and coldest months than in the purely insular Malta. Malaria, dysentery, and other tropical diseases are not uncommon, but seldom either widely spread or particularly virulent. As we leave the coast, the range of temperature, both annual and diurnal, rapidly increases, and is especially marked in the highlands of Asia Minor, as, for example, at Erzerum, where the temperature in January falls as low as -20° F. (-29° C.), and in summer may exceed 90° F. (31° C.).