The Dashtistan is simply an emerged portion of the coral bed of the Persian Gulf, and the abominable character of its climate goes far to counterpoise the bright, temperate weather of the rest of the country. It is often no more than 20 miles or less wide, and is badly off for fresh water, most of the wells being brackish. Even here, the cold weather is extremely pleasant, so that one is glad to sit over a big coal fire in February in rooms not directly warmed by the sun, and there is nothing much to complain of till early June--the earlier hot months being rendered quite endurable by strong breezes which make punkahs quite needless. This, however, is succeeded by a period of intense, damp, breathless heat, entirely unassuaged by a drop of rain, which requires to be endured to be thoroughly appreciated. The climax of discomfort is attained somewhere about the middle of August, but it is well on in October before any very decided improvement sets in, the hot weather being thus prolonged far on into the autumn. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that cases of heat apoplexy are far from uncommon, but fortunately there is comparatively little malaria, though digestive disturbances arising from the brackishness of drinking water are naturally rather common. There is nothing like the proportion of cases of eye diseases that is to be met with in Egypt, but the intense glare and the sparseness of the vegetation make the use of neutral-tinted spectacles very advisable. The following table of the temperature and rainfall of Bushire (Abusher) will serve as a sufficient example of the climate of the Dashtistan generally:-- =========+===========+===========+======+============= Month | Mean | Mean | Rela-| Rainfall | Maximum | Minimum | tive | |Temperature|Temperature|Humid-| +----+------+----+------+ ity +----+-------- | F. | ~C.~ | F. | ~C.~ | % |Ins.| ~Mm.~ ---------+----+------+----+------+------+----+-------- January |65·2|~18·4~|52·0|~11·1~| 79 |3·39| ~86·2~ February |66·0|~18·9~|52·5|~11·4~| 80 |2·51| ~63·7~ March |72·6|~22·5~|58·2|~14·5~| 72 |0·87| ~21·7~ April |84·6|~29·3~|66·1|~18·9~| 61 |0·58| ~15·1~ May |89·8|~32·0~|75·3|~24·1~| 60 |0·02| ~0·5~ June |92·2|~33·4~|80·3|~26·8~| 61 |0 | ~0~ July |95·5|~35·3~|84·0|~28·9~| 65 |0 | ~0~ August |96·5|~35·8~|83·6|~28·7~| 64 |0 | ~0~ September|94·2|~34·5~|78·8|~26·0~| 65 |0 | ~0~ October |87·9|~31·0~|70·7|~21·5~| 65 |0 | ~0~ November |78·0|~25·6~|62·1|~16·8~| 74 |2·16| ~54·7~ December |69·7|~20·9~|55·5|~13·1~| 73 |3·98|~101·3~ =========+====+======+====+======+======+====+========