THE HOTTEST PLACE ON EARTH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8408, 6 January 1899, Page 4

THE HOTTEST PLACE ON EARTH.

vVhkx we swelter under tlic afllicting teinpcrature of ouv hottest days, wo have one unfailing consolation. It is hotter soniDwhere else. In one region onlyon the terrestrial surface is such relief denied. That region is the hottest place on carth — the unhappy area. in which the agonised inhabitant is overwhelmed by the fact that nnywheio else in the world the weather is delightfully cool — in comparison. The region of maximum temperature is an extensive area in the Persian ("Julf, a part of the south-western coast of Persia. This territory includes also the Bahrein or Aval island. Throughout this belt the heat is someting tremendous*. June, July, and August are terrific, unendurable save to the natives, and hideous to them. Day after day the mercury marks more than 100 decrees in the shade. By day here I mean the diurnal 24 hours. Imagine the horror of striking a match at midnight and reading 110 degrees. Often 140 degrees in the shade is attained in the afternoon. There are abundant springs of good water in the interior, but on the coast there is the awful heat that shrivels this part of the world, and there are only the unilrinkable salt waves of the Persian Gulf. The way in which they acquire fresh water is curious. The get ifc out of the sea. A mile from the shore of Bahrein are the treasured springs of fresh water. The sparkling wells bubble up through the sands in the bottom of the harbor. Hidden in the ocean's abyss, they have, nevertheless, been discovered by man, and from their supply the city of Manalimali, a thriving commercial centre, and all the other towns, and every separate bit of the coast, gain all the water that is used for drinking purposes. Divers are sent down from boats stationed over the springs. The divers invert their goat-skin sacks over the gushing waters, so that the jets may enter the bag's mouths. Each bag when filled is closed water-tight, and the thing is done. It is estimated that 1000 sacks are filled daily from the submarine wells. The sources of these springs are unknown. Without them the sea border would be uninhabitable, inasmuch as repeated efforts to secure water by artesian wells, even when the shafts were sunk to a depth of 500 feet, have failed.