in Syria, Phoenice &c. g5^ 



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

 Clouds ; though, by the Reflexion, as I take it, of thedefcend- 

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

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

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

 quired towards the Produftion of this Thienomenon, than that 

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

 contrary Winds, whirling them about and preffing violently up- 

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

 fume, be accounted for, according to Lemerfs Suppofition ', from 

 fubmarine Earthquakes and Eru6lations : neither will the Sipho- 

 n'lc Winds % if there be any fuch, much better folve the Difficulty. 



In travelling by Night through the Valleys oilsJio\x\\\.Ephra'tm,Arem.-.rkahie 

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

 Ignh fdtims, that difplayed itfelf in a Variety of extraordinary 

 i\ppearances. 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 inolFenlive Light ; 

 then at once contract itfelf, and fuddenly difappear. But in 

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

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

 a fwift progreflTive Motion , 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 undlu- 

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

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

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



The firft Rains ufually fall about the ^Q^xnrnn^oi November jUe Former 

 the latter fometimes in the Middle, fometimes towards theljii"""^ 

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

 Jerufalem, that, provided a moderate Quantity of Snow falls 

 in the Beginning o^Fehruary and the Fountains overflow a little 

 afterwards, there is theProfpedt 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 Hurricanes come from thofe Places of the Earth which are under the Sea, they 

 " raife the Waters into prodigious Pillars, ** the fame are called Spouts at Sea." Lemery's 



Courfe of Chjm'ljirj. Ed. 4, p. Ild. 2 Ti/^roj 1^ Xl^ama a^hxnt <ha. li tA>^ •myi^ims ivacam^aj. 



Oljmp. in /4riJ{. Meteor. 3 A Corruption oiCuhpo fanto, as thisMeceor is called by the Spaniards. 



Y y y y X During 



