Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-04-02
A BeiishtfuI Climate A 'NIce" Place to
Reside.

"A DelishtfuI Climate "A "Nlce" Place to
Reside.
A foreign correspondent says in writing
from Nice;
Nice owes its mild climate to the proteo-
ton of the mighty Alps, which inclose it on
the north, east. and west also to the genial
breezes which ian the coast from Toulon to
Geneva. The regular degree of warmth
which the thermometer marks in the depth
of Winter, is truly wonderful, when com
pared 70 that of cities only a few leagues
q distant, where the population shivers with
cold, and where snow and rain are oontinu.
ally falling, while the favored spot called
Nice may be nearly incommoded by the
heat.
The situation of Nice, or Nizza, as the
Italians more prettily term il, is upon a fine,
sweeping bay Of the same name. The
ground upon which the nucleus of the city
stands q say nucleus, because the villas dot
the suburbs in such numbers, that it appears
ont vast city of gardensl is but a small alti-
tude above the ocean, and Is level; being
badly drained, certain localities are deleteri-
Gus to patients. This small meadow is en-
circled by a splendid amphitheater of hills,
gentle in outline, and covered with olives,
lemons, oranges, aloes, cactii, and other in
Vulnerable exotics, which thrive here in all
the luxuriance of their native homes.
The prickly' leayed caetii are encountered
in each corner by the roadside-in gardens,
fields, and upon walls. The slender stems
of that important medicinal plant the aloe,
with its long, lance-like leaves, stand here
and there like sentinels; indeed, they are as
common as our well known mullen. But of
all arborial beauties that delight the eye at
Nice, and with which the stranger will be
perfectly ~enraptured, non are more heau-
tiful than the contrast between the orchards
of orange, and its mate the lemon, pendent
with clusters of golden and silvery fruit,
and the light %gray.green of the olive trees,
which clothe every hight around.
How / should have loved to remain a
month or two longer at Nice, when the air
will be burdened with the odor, and the
2 vision pleased with the blossoms of the two
aforementioned trees. The palm trees, too,
must not be left unnoticed. They seem
slow of growth, and so timid of spreading
their leaves in these alien parts, that every
solitary stalk appears to weep for the warm
desert air of its own Africa. Here the palm
never attaibs a more ambitious hight than
thirty or forty feet; and while the young
sprouts are frequent trees of the above al
titude are not often to be seen, save in spots
favored by continual sunshine. In short,
like the ancient MOors Of Granada, who
supposed-the worthy Fray Antonio Aga
BtOd Ac-S ue-sO CuIuduAluE LuO CAluldlO
and SKY, and so fruitful the soil, that Para
disc was placed in that part of the heavens
which %overhuDg Granada. / can fancy the
Kingdom of Heaven TO be directly above
where | write.
The temperature OF Nice-and it does not
vary tW enty miles either way along the
coast is from 400 to Csc during the Winter
season. One might naturally suppose that
in Summer the heat would be oppressive.
This is not the case; a cool breeze ever bio VS.
inward from the STA.
a DO EeIful wind, called the mistrdl, which
blows from the northwest over Provence,
is seldom felt at Nice. Even then it is only
dangerous to weak invalids. To those
~aboundipg in health it ats IS a potent elixir,
seeming to excite the mind more like has
Ressh, CT other stimulant drug, instead of
the meIe atmosphere. One
"Walks, he leaps, he runs-is winged with joy"
never knew how much life and activity
could be extracted from air alone, until
walked along the beach of the Mediterranean,
facing the strength OF the wanton gale.