During the winter the days are mostly bright, and the sun shines brilliantly on the snow, causing it to thaw. In the evenings it freezes again, and then the roads are like polished glass, and men, horses, and camels fall and are injured, the animals often breaking their legs and having to be destroyed. The sun, shining on the snow, also causes a good deal of snow blindness. But the most trying time in winter is when the skies are overcast, and a great wind rises which nothing will shut out of the house. Then at sundown the temperature falls below zero, and continues to fall as the night advances, and even with a huge fire burning in the room, one is warm only on the side nearest the fire, the other side of the body being chilled with the continuous draught which comes in at every crevice as the wind surges against the house in seeming heavy waves. Those outside who have to bear the brunt of this wind, suffer considerably, and often lose feet, hands, or nose with frostbite, and soldiers on guard frequently die of cold, for they are very insufficiently clad to stand such weather. At this time, too, wolves come down at night from the mountains, driven by hunger from their natural fastnesses to seek food near the city, and attack and kill men whom they find helpless with cold and fatigue, and carry off children, sheep, and goats when they can get them. One peculiarity about the climate is the quantity of electricity in all things. If one walks across a room in the dark, dragging the feet along the carpet, sparks of electricity follow the feet; also, if one strokes a dog smartly down the back, the same thing is noticeable. When undressing, the shirt, as it is pulled over the head, causes a crackle of electricity as it drags over the hair, and women, when brushing their long tresses, find each hair electrified and standing out straight from one another as the brush leaves it. The clear, rare air makes distances very deceptive to the eye, and mountains at a considerable distance appear quite close. Once, when riding one of the longest day’s journeys I have done in the country, I was told in the morning that we should camp under a conically-shaped mountain in the distance, which could be seen rising between the dip of two ranges of mountains, and, looking at it, I put the distance down at twenty to twenty-five miles, and looked forward to early lunch that day; but evening was well advanced before we reached our camping-ground, and we travelled at a steady pace the whole of the day.