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Show Peculiarities of Yokohama's Climate. To one long accustomed to deep Snows from Thanksgiving to the middle . of March a winter in Yokohama is a delightful de-lightful change. Frosty nights and cloudless, sunny days are" the rule.- The few exceptions only serve to intensify the blueness of the sky and the warmth and brightness of the sunshine. It is cool enough to make a little fire not only pleas-ant,.but pleas-ant,.but a necessity, and we have had one snowstorm. Two or three inches fell, but in twenty-four hours it was all gone, and in 3G hours the streets were dry. On the sunny side of the house it is warm enough in the middle of the day to demand open windows, and the natives na-tives open their houses that they may be warmed by the sunshine it saves fuel. The Asiatic sun has peculiar penetrating qualities. Many Europeans suffer from its effects, and are obliged to carry an umbrella in mid-winter to protect the head. The thermometer in the coldest weather seldom falls to 20 degrees above zero, and yet it is astonishing how newcomers new-comers suffer with cold. Several reasons may be, given for this: " It is a foreign clime, it has a damp atmosphere, and the houses are lightly built that they mav shake like a basket in the frequent earthquakes. The corners of our room have great cracks in them caused by the earthquakes. These quakes average j about one a week. The natives, Borne foreign children, and a few European ladies never lose their fear of them, but jump and run at the first rattle of doors and windows and rush in fright out. of the house. If they are in bed and asleep when the. quake comes they are out in the night air presently, although in garments gar-ments too few and thin for health, and regardless of propriety. - |