Chap. 45.] TvrcTDS. 71 



(44.) The Avindings and the nmnerous peaks of mountains, 

 their ridges, bent into angles or broken into defiles, with the 

 hollow valleys, by their irregular forms, cleaving the air which 

 rebounds from them (which is also the cause why voices are, 

 in many cases, repeated several times in succession), give rise 

 to winds. * ' 



(45.) There are certain caves, such as that on the coast ot 

 Dalmatia, with a vast perpendicular chasm, into which, if a 

 light weight only be let down, and although the day be calm, 

 a squall issues from it like a whirlwind. The name of the 

 place is Senta. And also, in the province of Cyrenaica, there 

 is a certain rock, said to be sacred to the south wind, which 

 it is profane for a human hand to touch, as the south wind 

 immediately rolls forwards clouds of sand\ There are also, 

 in many houses, artificial cavities, forme din the walls ^whicli 

 produce currents of air; none of these are without their 

 appropriate cause, 



CHAP. 45. — VAEIOTJS OBSEEYATIONS BESPECTIT^G 

 WINDS. 



But there is a great difference between a gale and a wind^ 

 The former are uniform and appear to rush forth^ ; they are 

 felt, not in certain spots only, but over whole countries, not 

 forming breezes or squalls, but \^olent storms\ Wliether 

 they be produced by the constant revolution of the world 

 and the opposite motion of the stars, or whether they both 

 of them depend on the generative spirit of the nature of 



ceed from a marshy and moist soH ; De Mundo, cap. 4. p. 605. For the 

 origin and meaning of the terms here appUed to the wmds, see the re- 

 marks of Hardouin and Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 323. 



1 This is mentioned by Pomp. Mela. 



2 " In domibus etiam multis manu facta inclusa opacxtate concepta- 



cula " Some of the MSS. have madefacia for maim facta, and 



this reading has been adopted by Lemaire ; but nearly all the editors, as 

 Palechamps, Laet, Grovonius, Poincinet and Ajasson, retam the former 

 word. „ 



3 The terms in the original are " flatus" and " ventus. 

 ■* " illos (flatus) statos atque perspirantes." 



6 « qui non aura, non proctUa, scd mares appeUatione quoque ipsa venti 

 stmt." This passage cannot be translated into English, from our lan- 

 guage not possessing the technical distinction of genders, as depending 

 on the termination of the substantives. 



