THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 431 



in that valley all the iiimmcr months, and i.s called the E- 

 tefuw winds ; it fweeps the valley from north to 1'outh, that 

 being the direction of Egypt, and of the Nile, which runs 

 through the midft of it. The two chains of mountains, 

 which confine Egypt on the eafl and on the weft, conftrain 

 the wind to take this precife direction. 



It is natural to fuppofe the fame would be the cafe in the 

 Arabian Gulf, had that narrow lea been in a direction pa- 

 rallel to the land of Egypt, or due north and fouth. The 

 Arabian Gulf, however, or what we call the Red Sea, lies 

 from nearly north-weft to fouth-eaft, from Suez to Mocha. 

 It then turns nearly eafl and well till it joins the Indian O- 

 ccan at the Straits of Babelmandeb, as we -have already laid, 

 and may be further feen by confulting the map. Now, the 

 Etelian winds, which are due north in Egypt, here take the 

 direction of the Gulf, and blow in that direction ileadily all 

 the feafon, Avhile it continues north in the valley of Egypt ; 

 that is, from April to October the wind blows north-well 

 up the Arabian Gulf towards the Straits ; and, from No- 

 vember till March, directly contrary, down the Arabian 

 Gulf, from the Straits of Babelmandeb to Suez and the Iflli— 

 mus. 



These winds are by fome corruptly called' the- t^ade^ieindsp. 

 but this name given to them is a very erroneous one, and 

 apt to confound narratives, and make them unintelligible. 

 A trade-wind is a wind which, all the year through, blows, 

 and has ever blown, from the fame point of the horizon; 

 fucli is the fouth- weft, fouth of the Line, in the Indian and 

 Paciiic Ocean. On the contrary, thefe winds, of which we 

 have now fpoken, are called monfoons;. .each year they blow 



2 fix. 



