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.; NEAR SEA LEVEL.
=========+===========+===========+=====+=============+============== Month | Mean | Mean |Rela-| Rainfall | Remarks | Maximum | Minimum | tive| | |Temperature|Temperature| Hu- | | +----+------+----+------+ mid +-----+-------+ | F. | ~C.~ | F. | ~C.~ | ity | Ins.| ~Mm.~ | ---------+----+------+----+------+-----+-----+-------+-------------- January |60·2|~15·7~|50·1|~10·0~| 78 | 5·51|~139·7~|Total Annual February |63·0|~17·2~|50·3|~10·2~| 79 | 1·04| ~26·2~|Rainfall, 17·1 March |63·4|~16·8~|49·8|~9·9~ | 73 | 1·04| ~26·2~|ins., or 40·3 April |65·6|~18·5~|52·4|~11·3~| 78 | 2·18| ~55·2~|cm. 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.