Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 201, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1916 — Climate of “The Garden." [ARTICLE]

Climate of “The Garden."

The chief peculiarity about Kurna is that the natives believe the place where they live is the exact site of the Garden of Eden. The climate of Kurna is acknowledged to be the most trying in the summer time. It is claimed that the British government has a record of 159 degrees in the shade upon the bridge of a boat anchored in the river at Busreh, a little to the south. The missionaries at Busreh tell of nights when the thermometer registers not less than 125 degrees. British sailors bound for the Persian gulf in the summer times usually desert if they can. Perhaps in Africa the thermometer rises nearly as high; but there the air is dry, while in the Persian gulf it is exceedingly moist. The Europeans as Busreh must pass the days in underground chambers, or serraubs, while a native boy pulls a huge fan, or punkah, suspended from the celling to keep ihe air in circulation. The nights are spent on the roof, for it is Impossible to sleep below. In the winter time the air seems exceedinglyly cold, for the marshes are filled with salt? and as the wind sweeps over the plain the moist salt air is peculiarly penetrating. Frequently the Arab, benumbed by the cold, falls from his horse. —Christian Herald.