Plinics Naturall Hiftorie. 



^ keth an hiiTmg. being tliruft into water) and a fmokie fume walmeth up with many turnings like 

 waves. Hereupon ftormes doe breed. And if this flatuofitieoi: vapour doeibuggle and wreftie 

 within the cloudjrom thence it cdmmeth that thunderclaps be heard ^ but if it breake through 

 ftill burningjthen flieth out the thunderbolf.if it bee longer time a ftrugling , and cannot pelrcc 

 throu^'hjthen leames and flafhes are feene.Withthe{e,the ctoudis cloven 3 with the othergburft 

 in funder.Moreover^thundcrs are nothing els but the blows and thumps given by the fires bea- 

 ting hard upon the clouds: and therefore prefently the fierie chinkes and rifcs of thofe c|ouds do 

 glitter and ihine.PolTible it is alfo^that the breath and wind elevated from the earthibeing repel- 

 led backcjand kept downe by the ftarresjand fd held in and rei^lrained within a cloud, may thun- 

 der^whilcs Nature choketh the rumbling foundjali the while it ftriveth and quarrelkth; but fen- 



B deth forth a cracke when it breaketh out, as wee fee in a bladder puffed up with wind . Likewife 

 it may bejthat the fame wind or fpirit whatfoe verbis fet on fire by fretting and rubbing, as it vio- 

 lendypafleth headlong downe; Itmay alfd beftricken by theconfli^: of two clouds, as if two 

 ftones hit one againft another 5 and fo the leames and fljllies (parkle forth. So as all thefe acci^ 

 dents happen by chance medley ,and be irregular. And hereupon come thole brutifh and vaind 

 iightenings, fucb as have no naturall reafon, but arc dccafioned by thefe impreffions above- 

 faid. With thefe are mountaines and (easfmitten: and of this kind be6 all other blafts and bolts 

 that doe no hurt to living creatures. As for thofe that come from abovcjand of ordinarie cau- 

 fes^yea^and from their proper ftarresathey alwaies prefage and foretell future events. In like rna* 

 neras touching the winds,or rather blalts, I would not denie but that they may proceed from z 



Q drie exhalation of the car th5void of all moifture ; neither is it impoifiblc, but that they doe arifc 

 put of watersjbreathing and fending out an aire, which neither can thicken into a miltjnor ga- 

 ther into cloud>:alfo they may be driven by the lugitation and impulfion of the Sunne, becaufe 

 the wind is conceived to bee nought els but the fluduation and waving of the aire, and that by 

 many mcanes alfo.Fotfome we iee to rife out of rivers,firths,and feas,even when they be ftiland 

 caime:as alio othersout of theearth,which winds they name ^//4w.And thole verily when they 

 come backe againe from the fca,arc called Trop^i: if they goe onrntd^Aj^og^i, 



CHAP/iXLIIIi; 

 ^ What is the reafon of the refounUiiig and doubling oft he Zcchoi 



|Vt the windings of hils,and their often turnings, their many tops, their crefls andrid- 

 gesalib bending hke an elbow or broken, and arched as it were into ihoulders, toge- 

 ther with the hollow noukes of valiies,do cut unequally the aire that reboundetb thenf 

 fro: which is the caufe of reciprocall voices called Ecchoes^anfweiingons another in many pU- 

 ces3\i?hcn a man doth holla or houpe among them, 'c? 



Chap* X LV. 



Ofrv'mdi againe^ 



l^^pOWjthcre be certaine caves and holes which breed winds continually without end:Iik as 

 ll^t that is one which we fee in the edge oi Dalmatia,with a wide mouth gaping,and leading 

 WW JO a deepe downefalhinto which if you caft any matter of light weighf,be the day nevec 

 fo calme othcrwife,there arifeth prefently a ftormie tempeit like a whirlcpuife. The places name 

 isSenta. Moreover, intheprovinceCyrenaicathereis reported to bee a rocke coiifecrated to 

 the South-windjwhich without prophanation may not be touched wiih mans hand; but if it bc^ 

 prefently the South wind doth arifeand caff up heapcs of fand. Alfoinmany houfes there bee 

 hollow places de^i^fed and made by mans hand for receipt of wind, which being enciofed with 

 illade and darktii^fTcjgather their blaffs. Whereby we may fee how all winds have one caufe oc 

 other.But great difference there is betweene fuch blaff s,and wlinds. As for thefe,they bee fetlcd 

 and ordinaricjcontinually blowings which,notfomefmalI trads & particular piaces,but whole 

 lands doefeele;whicharenotIightgales,norflormiepuffes,named/4«r4r and /;tffi'//^,bivt fim* 



ply called Winds,by the Mafculme name Fenth which whether they arileby the continuall mo- 

 tion of the Heaven,and the contrarie courfe of the Planets j or whether this wind bee that fpirit 

 of Nature that engendrethall things^wandcringto and fro as it wereiiifome wombe 5 or rathcc 



