in Syria, Phoenice ^c. 56"^ 



feemed to be fo many Cylinders of Water, falling down from the 

 Clouds •, though, by the Refleolion, as I take it, of thedefcend- 

 ing Columns, or from the actual dropping of the Water contain- 

 ed in them, they may fometimes appear, elpecially ata Diftance, 

 to be fucked up from the Sea. Nothing more perhaps is re- 

 quired towards the Produ6lion of this Thienomenon, than that 

 the Clouds fliould be firit crowded together ; and then, that 

 contrary Winds, whirling them about and preiTmg violently up- 

 on them, fhould oblige them to condenfe. They cannot, I pre- 

 fume, be accounted ior, according to Lemerf^ Suppoiltion ', from 

 fubmarine Earthquakes and Eruolations : neither will the Sipho- 

 nic Winds ', if there be any fuch, much better folve the Difficulty. 



In travelling by Night through the Valleys oi'MoimX.Ephraim, a rcm^rkaiie 

 we were attended, for above the fpace of an Hour, with an °"'^ 

 Ignis fatuus, that difplayed itfelf in a Variety of extraordinary 

 Appearances. For it was fometimes globular, or like the 

 Flame of a Candle ; immediately after it would fpread itfelf, 

 and involve our whole Company in it's pale inoffeniive Light ; 

 then at once contrad; itfelf, and fuddenly difappear. But in 

 left than a Minute it would again exert itfelf as at other 

 Times, or elfe, running along from one Place to another, with 

 a fwift progreflive A4otion , would expand itfelf, at certain 

 Intervals, over more than two or three Acres of the adjacent 

 Mountains. The Atmofphere, from the Beginning of the Even- 

 ing, had been remarkably thick and hazy ; and the Dew, as 

 we felt it upon our Bridles, was unufually clammy and unolu- 

 ous. In the like Difpoiition of the Weather, I have obferved 

 thofe luminous Bodies, which, at Sea, skip about the Mails 

 and Yards of Ships, and are called Corpufanfe ^ by the Mariners. 



The firft Rains ufually fall about the ^QgmnmgoiNcvemher^n.e Former 

 the latter fometimes in the Middle, fometimes towards ύί^κΐ-^!"''' 

 End Qii April. It is an Obfervation in the Country round about 

 Jerufalem, that, provided a moderate Quantity of Snow tails 

 in the Beginning οϊ February and the Fountains overflow a little 

 afterwards, there is the Profpeot of a fruitful and plentiful Year : 

 the Inhabitants making, upon thefe Occafions, the like Re- 

 joycings which the Egyptians do, upon the cutting of the Nile, 



I 



^ "When Hurricvics come from thoie Places of the Earth which arc under the Sea, they 

 raife the Waters into prodigious Pillars, ** the fame are called Spoui.' at Sea." /..mery's 



Courfe of Chym'tftry. Ed. 4. p. 11 (J, 2 Ίυΐ^ναί rOj Xipavoi y^^m Jia, -ri c//c<if ■ηκ».ά.κΐ( h^axi^wiu. 



Olymp.inA'ifl. Meteor. 3 A Corruption ofCafVu/iiWfo, as thisMeteor is called by the Λ/)/»/Μ)'ί.'ί. 



Υ y y y X During 



