from the rivers, fed by the winter snows on the mountains which border the great plateau. At times, however, as in 1802 and 1879, storms of rain descend on the high lands of Murcia and the eastern sierras, and floods rush down, sweeping away dams which have stood for centuries, washing away towns and villages, and spreading destruction far and wide. To compute the rainfall of such floods into an average is only to play with figures. Murcia has an average temperature of 64 deg., maximum 112 deg., minimum 24 deg., and an extreme range of 120 deg.. The rainfall averages about 12-1/2 inches on the coast, but varies greatly; at Albacete it is said to average 13 inches. The directly southern coast, from the Cabo de Gata to Gibraltar, has a milder and more equable climate than that of the south-eastern coast; but in the inland valley of the Guadalquiver the range is more extreme, both for heat and cold. The dryness in the eastern district still continues from Cartagena to Almeria; the rainfall is said to be only 12 inches. At Malaga, while the average temperature is 66 deg., about the same as that at Valencia and Alicante, the maximum is said to be only 78 deg., and the minimum 53 deg.. At Motril, between Malaga and Almeria, the maximum is 77 deg., and the minimum 52 deg.. In Seville on the other hand, the average is 68 deg., with a maximum Of 118 deg., and a minimum of 30 deg.. Cordova, somewhat colder, has a maximum of 93 deg., and a minimum of 27 deg.. The rainfall is also more moderate at Malaga, 15-1/2 inches, and 23 at Seville. Granada, in its upland but sheltered valley, at an elevation of 2681 feet, defended from the east and south by the snowy range of the Sierra Nevada, and by the mountains of Granada to the north, has still an average of 65 deg., with a maximum of 97 deg., and a minimum of 42 deg.. The rainfall varies considerably in different years, and various geographers give its average as 23-1/2 33-1/2, and the latest (Reclus) 48-1/2. Cadiz has an Atlantic climate, which in temperature and greater rainfall, 37 inches, closely approximates to that of Madeira. Moving westward it decreases, at Gibraltar, 34-1/2, San Fernando, 27; while at Huelva and Tarifa, where the moisture of the north-west gales is intercepted by the Portuguese mountains, it descends to 24-1/2. We have now only to treat of the climate of the great central elevation, the plateau, which ranges at an average height of some 2000 feet above the sea. Thus, Madrid is 2148, Segovia 2299, Burgos 2873, Soria 3504, and the Escorial, 3683 feet above the sea-level. But even these altitudes do not wholly account for the rigour of the climate in the latitude of Naples, Rome, and Constantinople. We have seen how excellent is the climate of Granada at a nearly equal elevation, only three degrees further south. The extremes of heat and cold felt at Valladolid and Madrid are due more to the uncovered mountain ranges to the north, the treeless, waterless plains,