'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎440] (525/905)

440
CLIMATE OF THE UPLANDS. [CHAP. XVIII.
remain on the ground, and mild showers begin to fall early
in the month of February, this season is speedily followed by
a luxuriant spring and abundant crops. The inhabitants are
healthy and robust, although they are not by any means free
from intermittent fevers; cataracts and other diseases of the
eyes also prevail; and there are some cases of cancer and
dropsy.
Temperature The second description of climate is the upland of Aleppo,
with the country stretching eastward and westward from
thence, including in the latter direction the valleys of the
Afrin, the Sajur, &c. This tract has a mean elevation which
rather exceeds 1300 feet above the sea, and an average tem
perature of about 57 degrees. Immediately round Aleppo the
soil is stony, but elsewhere it consists chiefly of rich loam, to
which more eastward succeeds an indurated clay, with a beaten
surface; but towards the banks of the Euphrates the latter is
replaced by beds of chalk.
Although the mean annual temperature is so moderate, 1 this
tract differs from the preceding by the severity and long
duration of the winters, as well as the heat of the summers.
Partial cuiti- Being, like the steppes of the old world and the savannas
of the new, deprived of large timber and the higher kind of
vegetation, the surface of the ground becomes greatly parched
in summer ; whilst the elevation of the plateau and its position
between the Taurus and Lebanon, together with its exposure
to winds cooled by the evaporation of the desert, sufficiently
account for the existence of a lower temperature than that
- which prevails elsewhere in the same latitude. When left to
nature, the plain of Aleppo is covered with compositse and
umbelliferse, which, in the spring, are succeeded by an abun
dant vegetation ; a large proportion of it only serves, however,
for pasture-ground to the nomadic people, the rest of the
surface being partially cultivated by the Fellahs Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. and agricul
tural Turkomans, who frequently do not care to cultivate the
same spot for two successive years.
The rains commence some days earlier, and are more fre-
1 This was ascertained by the observations made on the temperature of the
springs, by Mr. Ainsworth.