Chap. 46.] WEfTDS. 71 



(44.) The windings and the numerous peaks of mountains, 

 their ridges, bent into angles or broken into defiles, with the 

 hollow valleys, by their irregular forms, cleaving the air which 

 rebounds from them (which is also the cause why voices are, 

 in many cases, repeated several times in succession), give rise 

 to winds. 



(45.) There are certain caves, such as that on the coast of 

 Dalmatia, mth a vast perpendicular chasm, into which, if a 

 light weight only be let down, and although the day be calm, 

 a squall issues from it like a whirlwind. The name of the 

 place is Senta. And also, in the province of Cyrenaica, there 

 is a certain rock, said to be sacred to the south wind, which 

 it is profane for a human hand to touch, as the south wind 

 immediately rolls forwards clouds of sand^ There are also, 

 in many houses, artificial cavities, formed in the walls'", which 

 produce currents of air; none of these are without their 

 appropriate cause. 



CHAP. 45. — ^VABIOUS OBSEBVATIOKS EESPECTING 

 WINDS. 



Eut there is a great difference between a gale and a wind*. 

 The former are uniform and appear to rush forth* ; they are 

 felt, not in certain spots only, but over whole countries, not 

 forming breezes or squalls, but violent storms*. Whether 

 they be produced by the constant revolution of the world 

 and the opposite motion of the stars, or whether they both 

 of them depend on the generative spirit of the nature of 



ceed from a marshy and moist soil ; De Mundo, cap. 4. p. 605. For the 

 origin and meaning of the terms here applied to the winds, see the re- 

 marks of Hardouin and Alexandre, in Lemaire, L 323. 



* This is mentioned by Pomp. Mela. 



* " In domibus etiam multis manu facta inclusa opacitate concepta- 



ciJa " Some of the MSS. have madefacta for manu facta, and 



this reading has been adopted by Lemaire ; but nearly all the editors, as 

 Dalechamps, Laet, Grovonius, Poincinet and Ajasson, retain the former 

 word. 



3 The terms in the original are " flatus " and " ventus." 



* " illos (flatus) statos atque perspirantes." 



" qui non am*a, non procella, sed mares appellatione quoque ipsa venti 

 sunt." Tliis passage cannot be translated into EngUsh, from our lan- 

 guage not possessing the technical distinction of genders, aa depending 

 oa the termination of the substantives. 



