Facsimile · p. 50
Weston is 725 parasangs from Marrakesh, 370 parasangs from Tunis, and 100 parasangs from the city of London, the seat of the English. It is 546 parasangs from the city of Petersburg, the seat of the Muscovites, and 100 parasangs from the city of Moscow, the old seat of the Muscovites. It is 325 parasangs from the city of Rome, the seat of the Pope, and also 325 parasangs from the city of Beijing, the seat of the Mamluks. It is 184 parasangs from the city of Naples. Its elevation relative to the surface of the surrounding sea is eighteen cubits. It is known to be in a temperate region, neither extremely hot nor extremely cold. The highest temperature there is thirty-one and a half degrees, and this is the extreme heat. The average heat is twenty-nine degrees. The extreme cold there is usually twelve degrees, and it rarely reaches eighteen. The average cold is seven degrees. It is known that the degree of heat is calculated from the melting of ice to the boiling point of water, and the degrees of cold are from the beginning of freezing. It is mostly characterized by a lack of time and abundant clouds, so that in winter the sun may not be seen for several days, and its disk is usually not visible. On cloudy days, what is in the Diwan of the Hijazi Meteorologist is fitting, from the poet's saying: The sun keeps watching us with a sidelong glance, As if it were shy, peeking from behind a veil. It tries to break through the clouds, but they come, Like a virgin trying to break through a veil. Some poets lost the page containing the first verse and were unable to find the page containing the second verse of these two verses, so they completed it by saying: It removed our sorrow, and it was removed, And it was veiled by a curtain.