652 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



the defert as quickly as poffible, and come to Axum, it mull 

 have been then Summer, or near it ; and as it was neceflary 

 his fleet mould return by the monfoon in October, fo it mufl 

 have then rained continually, and the fun been perpendicu- 

 lar to the country when he found the deep fnows in Sa- 

 men, which is not very probable. The river Tacazze, more- 

 over, which Ptolemy croffed, was really not paffable at that 

 time, and no Abyffinian army did ever attempt it during a 

 flood, though, without, fcruple at ail feafons they crofs the 

 Nile when moll deep and rapid. 



I remember that when I firft afcended Lamalmon, the 

 higheft mountain of that ridge, running the whole length 

 of the province of Samen, it was in the depth of winter ; 

 the thermometer flood at 32", wind N. W. clear and cold, 

 but attended with only hoar frofl, though at that height, and 

 at that feafon ; the grafs fcarcely was difcoloured, and only 

 felt crifp below my feet, with this fmall degree of freezing ; 

 but this vanifhed into dew after a quarter of an hour's fun, 

 nor did I ever fee any fign of congelation upon the water, 

 however fhaded and ftagnant, upon the top of that, or any 

 other hill. I have feen hail indeed lie for three hours in the 

 forenoon upon the mountains of Amid Amid. 



The opinion of Democritus was, that the overflowing of 

 .the Nile was owing to the fun's attraction of fnowy vapour 

 from the frozen mountains of the north, which being car- 

 ried by the wind fouthward, and thawed by warmer cli- 

 mates, fell down upon Ethiopia in deluges of rain : and the 

 fame is advanced by Agatharcides of Cnidus in his Periplus 

 •of the Red Sea. This opinion of Democritus, Diodorus at- 

 tempts to refute, but we lliall not join him in his refutation, 

 4 becaufe 



