CHAPTER VIII. LUXOR-ASSOUAN. A LUXOR is becoming more and more popular every winter, and as the season is a short one patients have hardly time to get tired of its monotony. bright sunny sky, combined with healthy outdoor exercise and interesting sights to visit, is a great help towards cheerfulness, and to this we may add a dry bracing climate, and freedom from rain and all atmospheric impurities. Dr. Patterson long ago described the Egyptian climate as possessing the warmth of Madeira, without its terrible damp and relaxing influence. The days for sending consumptive patients to hot, damp climates are almost at an end. In writing of Luxor I cannot do better than supplement Dr. Maclean's pamphlet, which appeared after his death, and contained his own experiences as an invalid during the winters of 1877-8-9. * "Hints for Invalids and Travellers, with Observations on the Climate of Luxor and Egypt." 1884. Luxor is a large village of 4000 natives, is 450 miles south of Cairo, and must be reached from Cairo or Assiout by steamer or dahabiyeh. Season. Those who wish to make the voyage up the Nile in a dahabiyeh, and then live in it at or near Luxor, should start from Cairo at the end of November, because they will then have a delightful summer trip without cold winds. After the middle of December the north wind, which is so pleasant on land, is apt to be piercingly cold for invalids on the river, and requires the use of thick clothes and rugs. Invalids going up in a steamer from Cairo should leave not later than the third week of December, because they will thus avoid the rain and cloudiness to which Cairo is then liable. Lastly, those patients who leave Cairo later than Christmas Day should shorten the Nile trip by taking train to Assiout, or must be content to be kept well out of harm's way on the river north of that town. At Assiout they will find a fair hotel and some English officials. Patients begin to leave Luxor at any time after the middle of February, and very few are up the river as late as the middle of April. The English doctor is in residence at Luxor Hotel from the middle of December to the end of March, and there is now also an English chaplain. During the whole season there are, of course, con stant relays of visitors, who stop for a few days on the way up and down the Nile. Hotels.-There are two good hotels, the better of which is kept by one of Messrs. Cook's agents. It was opened at the end of 1877, and, though it has been constantly enlarged, it is always full during the season, and rooms must therefore be engaged in advance. There is accommodation for about a hundred visitors, and at the Karnak Hotel for about half that number. Until 1888 most of the Luxor Hotel rooms were built in a single line from north to south, so as to receive full benefit of morning and afternoon sun, and the rooms were on two floors, the ground floor being raised four steps above the ground. The walls are purposely built of rough bricks of great thickness, so that they can be kept cool on hot days, and will retain their heat during winter nights. But I found that invalids had to go into the open air to get from their bedroom or sitting-room to the table d'hôte, and the ever-willing proprietor only required to have this disadvantage pointed out to him, to construct a large dining-room, two drawing-rooms, and over these bedrooms with a central passage, which allow delicate visitors to ascend without meeting the night air. Healthy visitors find no inconvenience from occupying the older rooms. Electric bells have been set up, and earth-closets with good ventilation have been renewed. The hotel stands in a beautiful garden of sweet-smelling plants, and is distant about 350 yards from the Nile. Excellent milk and other provisions can be obtained. There are no mosquitoes or sand-flies, but often a plague of house-flies. The dogs at night have sometimes been a nuisance, but they can be destroyed by the police if proper representation is made, either locally or to Cairo. Drinking-water is taken as usual from the Nile above the watering-place of the town, and then filtered in the ordinary way with big porous jars. Clothing should be as for summer and autumn in the south of England. Flannel suits supplemented by a belt, are very useful for both sexes by day and night. Ladies should avoid black dresses on account of the all-pervading sand, and they will require wash-leather or other gloves for donkeyriding. Sun-hats will be wanted in February and March. Climate. The invalid who seriously wishes to get full benefit from his stay will not be out before 10 a.m. or after sunset, and on cold days this period should be shortened. It cannot too often be repeated that the night air is very cold in comparison to that of the day, and also that whenever the temperature in Egypt is lower than 60° Fahr. it seems unpleasantly cool. But the healthy visitor may be out all day long, and the delicate one should be abroad as much as possible during the warm hours. Luxor is on the right bank of the Nile, 292 feet above the level of the sea, in latitude 25° 40′ N., and longitude 32° 35′ E. Immediately opposite and lying at a lower level, is the great plain of Thebes, stretching to the Libyan hills of limestone. Reference to Table V. shows that the corrected readings of the barometer (Fortin's) are always low and very steady till the hot weather begins. During November and December they were taken daily at 11.30 a.m.; and during the other three months, three times a day, at 9 a.m., 3 6 p.m. p.m., and The absolute maximum temperature for November was 94° on the 4th; for December, 77°; for January, Maclean once registered 83°; for February, 80° and 86°; and at the end of March the heat reaches even 110°, according to the same observer. The thermometers were hung in a north verandah, four feet from the ground, two feet from a wall, and protected from the wind. Of the solar temperatures in vacuo, the highest I find recorded are 164° on November 3, and 155° on March 13. But, as I have said before, the highest and |