THE EARTH. 



J05 



penetrate every where, even into chests, be 

 they shut never so closely. If these winds 

 happen to continue for any length of time, 

 they produce epidemic diseases, and are of- 

 ten followed by a great mortality. It is also 

 found to rain but very seldom in that country : 

 however, the want of showers is richly com- 

 pensated by the copiousness of their dews, 

 which greatly tend to promote vegetation. 



In Persia, the winter begins in November, 

 and continues till March. The cold at that 

 time is intense enough to congeal the water ; 

 and snow falls in abundance upon their moun- 

 tains. During the months of March and 

 April, winds arise, that blow with great force, 

 and seem to usher in the heats of summer. 

 These return again in autumn, with some vio- 

 lence; without, however, producing any 

 dreadful effects. But, during their summer, 

 all along the coasts of the Persian Gulf, a 

 very dangerous wind prevails, which the na- 

 tives call the Sameyel, still more dreadful and 

 burning than that of Egypt, and attended 

 with instant and fatal effects. This terrible 

 blast, which was, perhaps, the pestilence of 

 the ancients, instantly kills all those that it 

 involves in its passage. What its malignity 

 consists in, none can tell, as none have ever 

 survived its effects, to give information. It 

 frequently, as I am told, assumes a visible 

 form, and darts, in a kind of bluish vapour, 

 along the surface of the country. The na- 

 tives, not only of Persia, but of Arabia, talk 

 of its effects with terror ; and their poets have 

 not failed to heighten them with the assis- 

 tance of imagination. They have described 

 it as under the conduct of a minister of ven- 

 geance, who governs its terrors, and raises, 

 or depresses it, as he thinks proper. 3 These 

 deadly winds are also known along the coasts 

 of India, at Negapatam, Masulipatam, and 

 Petapoli. But, luckily for mankind, the short- 

 ness of their duration diminishes the injuries 

 that might ensue from their malignity. 



The Cape of Good Hope, as well as many 

 islands in the West-Indies, are famous for 

 their hurricanes, and that extraordinary kind 

 of cloud which is said to produce them. 

 This cloud, which is the forerunner of an ap- 

 proaching hurricane, appears, when first seen, 



Herbelot, Bibliotheque Oriental. 



like a small black spot, on the verge of the 

 horizon ; and is called, by sailors, the bull's 

 eye, from being seen so minute at a vast dis- 

 tance. All this time a perfect calm reigns 

 over the sea and land, while the cloud grows 

 gradually broader as it approaches. At 

 length, coming to the place where its fury is 

 to fall, it invests the whole horizon with dark- 

 ness. During all the time of its approach, an 

 hollow murmur is heard in the cavities of the 

 mountains ; and beasts and animals, sensible 

 of its approach, are seen running over the 

 fields, to seek for shelter. Nothing can be 

 more terrible than its violence when it begins. 

 The houses in those countries, which are 

 made of timber, the better to resist its fury, 

 bend to the blast like osiers, and again re- 

 cover their rectitude. The sun, which but 

 a moment before blazed with meridian splen- 

 dour, is totally shut out; and a midnight 

 darkness prevails, except that the air is in- 

 cessantly illuminated with gleams of lightning, 

 by which one can easily see to read. The 

 rain falls, at the same time, in torrents ; and 

 its descent has been resembled to what pours 

 from the spouts of our houses after a violent 

 shower. These hurricanes are not less offen- 

 sive to the sense of smelling also, and never 

 come without leaving the most noisome stench 

 behind them. If the seamen also lay by 

 their wet clothes, for twenty-four hours, they 

 are all found swarming with little white rnag- 



S)ts, that were brought with the hurricane, 

 ur first mariners, when they visited these 

 regions, were ignorant of its effects, and the 

 signs of its approach; their ships, therefore, 

 were dashed to the bottom at the first onset ; 

 and numberless were the wrecks which the 

 hurricane occasioned. But, at present, being 

 forewarned of its approach, they strip their 

 masts of all their sails, and thus patiently 

 abide its fury. These hurricanes are com- 

 mon in all the tropical climates. On the 

 coasts of Guinea they have frequently three 

 or four in a day, that thus shut out the hea- 

 vens for a liltle space ; and, when past, leave 

 all again in former splendour. They chiefly 

 prevail, on that coast, in the intervals of the 

 trade winds ; the approach of which clears 

 the air of its meteors, and gives these mortal 

 showers that little degree of wholesomeness 

 which they possess. They chiefly obtain 



