THE ATMOSPHERE AND ITS CURRENTS. 447 



4. Etesian winds. The ancients gave this designation, from Irrjcria*, annual, to period 

 ical winds which blow from the north-east in the summer months, for about six weeks, 

 throughout the Mediterranean and adjacent countries, but mostly in the eastern branch, 

 including the Adriatic and the Archipelago. The term Meltem is now applied to them by 

 the fishermen, a corruption, probably, of mal temps, referring to the fury with which they 

 blow, and to the danger to which their small craft become exposed. On land, they are 

 more favourably regarded. These winds are noticed by Pliny, Seneca, and Cicero, the 

 latter of whom says, that in Italy they are equally comfortable and salutary to men, beasts, 

 and birds, and likewise beneficial to vegetation, by moderating the violent heat of the 

 weather during the inclement season of the dog-days. In the Levant, they commence 

 towards the middle of July, about nine in the morning, continuing only in the daytime. 

 The sun at that season is powerfully heating the earth under the tropic of Cancer, and 

 rarefying the atmosphere south of the Mediteranean, thus giving birth to the north-east 

 etesian gales. 



5. JKhamsin, Samiel, Simoom, Harmattan, Sirocco. These are local titles of winds 

 differing greatly in geographical position and direction, and also in some of their properties, 

 but prevalent in desert regions, or in countries adjacent to them, and having one universal 

 character of being hot blasts. The Khamsin is a hot south wind, which soon after the 

 vernal equinox begins to blow in Egypt, continuing at intervals during a period of about 

 fifty days, to which the name refers. The two next are entirely identical, the Samiel 

 being the name given by the Turks to the wind which the Arabs called the Simoom. It 

 is common in Syria, Arabia, and Nubia, deleterious in its mildest formg, occasionally 

 destructive, many a pilgrim to the shrine of the prophet at Mecca, and merchant to the 

 marts of Bagdad, having perished by its noxious suffocating influence. Bruce suffered 

 from it when ascending the Nile, he and his company becoming so enervated as to be 

 incapable of pitching their tents, oppressed as well by an intolerable head-ache. " The 

 poisonous simoom," he remarks, when at Chendi, " blew as if it came from an oven ; our 

 eyes were dim, our lips cracked, our knees tottering, our throats perfectly dry ; and no 

 relief was found from drinking an immoderate quantity of water. " The most complete 

 account of the simoom and its effects has been given by Volney, whose accuracy here has 

 been repeatedly confirmed. " Travellers, " he states, " have mentioned these winds under 

 the name of poisonous winds ; or, more correctly, hot winds of the desert. Such in fact 

 is their quality ; and their heat is sometimes so excessive that it is difficult to form an 

 idea of their violence without having experienced it ; but it may be compared to the heat 

 of a large oven at the moment of drawing out the bread. When these winds begin to 

 blow, the atmosphere assumes an alarming aspect. The sky, at other times so clear in 

 this climate, becomes dark and heavy ; the sun loses its splendour, and appears of a violet 

 colour. The air is not cloudy, but grey and thick ; and is in fact filled with an 

 extremely subtle dust, that penetrates everywhere. This wind, always light and rapid, is 

 not at first remarkably hot, but it increases in heat in proportion as it continues. All 

 animated bodies soon discover it by the change it produces in them. The lungs, which a 

 too rarefied air no longer expands, are contracted and become painful. Respiration is 

 short and difficult, the skin parched and dry, and the body consumed by an internal heat. 

 In vain is recourse had to large draughts of water ; nothing can restore perspiration. In 

 vain is coolness sought for ; all bodies in which it is usual to find it deceive the hand that 

 touches them. Marble, iron, water, notwithstanding the sun no longer appears, are hot. 

 The streets are deserted, and the dead silence of night reigns everywhere. The 

 inhabitants of towns and villages shut themselves up in their houses and those of the 

 desert in their tents, or in pits they dig in the earth where they wait the termination of 

 this destructive heat. It usually lasts three days, but if it exceeds that time it becomes 



