Russegger's Bemarks on the Climate of Efjypt, 101 



case in more southern latitudes ; and there all the phenomena 

 of this kind of wind are more distinctly and characteristically 

 exhibited. I had frequent opportunities of obsei*ving the 

 whole course of the chamsins in the deserts of Southern 

 Nubia, and in the immeasurable grassy plains of Kordofan 

 and the White River ; but upon this subject I shall speak 

 more in detail in a subsequent part of my travels. I now 

 merely repeat, that the chamsin has nothing at all in common 

 with the ordinary winds which owe their origin to the dis- 

 turbance of the equilibrium of the strata of the air, caused by 

 purely mechanical means ; but that it is entirely an electrical 

 wind, as well in its origin as in its whole course.* 



Inundations of the Nile, and Vegetation. — 1 have already 

 remarked, that the climate of Lower Egyi)t belongs to the 

 type of Southern Europe, only with those modifications which 

 are peculiar to warmer zones. We have, as there, on the 

 coasts, the violent winter storms from the north, and especially 

 from the north-west ; storms at the periods of the Equinox; 

 rain in the months of November, December, and January ; 

 frequently at Alexandria, more rarely at Cairo, and almost 

 exclusively after thunder-storms. With this exception, the 

 sky is nearly always clear and bright, the air during the day 

 dry, and at night moist ; so that during the summer months 

 there is much dew every morning. Except during the win- 

 ter months, it rains rarely in Alexandria, and for the most 

 part not at all at Cairo. The rising of the Nile is merely a 

 consequence of the tropical rainy period, and that not merely 

 in so far as regards Abyssinia, but also in so far as relates to 

 all the countries which send their waters to the river district 

 of the Nile, and its two great branches, the Blue and the 

 White Rivers. Neither the melting of the snow, nor the fall- 

 ing of it on the high mountains of Abyssinia, comes here into 

 consideration, for the snow is of no consequence whatever, 

 and its operation on the height of the Nile one of those 

 illusions called forth by absurd hypotheses, which one person 

 after another repeats, sometimes during whole centuries, with 



* ScG my Memoir on tlie Climate of the Tropical Regions of Africa, al- 

 ready quoted. 



