THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 



43 1" 



in that valley all the fumrner months, and is called the E- 

 tefian winds - it fweeps the valley from north to fouth, 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 eaft and on the weft, conftraint* 

 the wind to take this precife direction. 



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

 Arabian Gulf, had that narrow fea 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 eaft and weft till it joins the Indian O- 

 cean at the Straits of Babelmandeb, as we have already faid, 

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

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

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

 the feafon, while it continues north-in the valley of Egypt ; 

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

 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 ifth- 

 inus. . 



These winds are by fome corruptly called the trade-winds; ; 

 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; 

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

 Pac'fic Ocean. On the contrary, thefe winds, of which we 

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



2„ fix: 



