THE EAPaH. 



239 



force of the storm. In order to estimate this with exactness, 

 we ought to know its density ; which also these are not calcu- 

 lated to discover. For this reason we often see storms, with very 

 powerful effects, that do not seem to show any great speed ; and, 

 on the contrary, we see these wind-measurers go round with great 

 swiftness, when scarcely any damage has followed from the storm. 



Such is the nature and the inconstancy of the irregular winds, 

 with which we are best acquainted. But their effects are much 

 more formidable in those climates near the tropics, where they 

 are often found to break in upon the steady course of the trade- 

 winds, and to mark their passage with destruction. "With us 

 the tempest is but rarely known, and its ravages are registered 

 as an 'mcommon calamity ; but in the countries that lie between 

 the tropics, and for a good space beyond them, its visits are fre- 

 quent, and its effects are anticipated. In these regions the 

 winds vary their terrors; sometimes involving all thing in a 

 suffocating heat; sometimes mixing aU the elements of tire, 

 air, earth, and water, together; sometimes, with a momen- 

 tary swiftness, passing over the face of the country, and destroy- 

 ing all things in their passage ; and sometimes raising whole 

 sandy deserts in one country, to deposite them upon some other. 

 We have little reason, therefore, to envy these climates the 

 luxiu-iance of their soil, or the brightness of their skies. Our 

 own muddy atmosphere, that WTaps us round in obscurity, though 

 it fails to gild our prospects with sunshine, or our groves with 

 fruitage, nevertheless answers the call of industry. They may 

 boast of a plentiful, but precarious, harvest ; while with us, the 

 labourer toils in a certain expectation of a moderate, but a 

 happy, return. 



In Egypt,* a kingdom so noted for its fertility, and the bright- 

 ness of its atmosphere, during summer, the south winds are so 

 hot, that they almost stop respiration ; besides which, they aie 

 charged with such quantities of sand, that they sometimes darken 

 the air as with a thick cloud. * 



2 Buffon, vol. ii. p. £58. 

 * The most destructive wind of Egypt is what is railed the Kamsin, which 

 generally prevails in March, April, and May. Denon thus describes it : 

 " The Kamsin is equally terrible by the frigntful spectacle which it exiiihita 

 when present, and by the consequences wh'ch follow its ravages. vVe haii 

 already passed with security one h;ilf of the season in which it Ujually 



