160 



that's it; 



Africa on the south ; Asia on the 

 east ; Europe on the north and 

 north-west ; and communicates 

 with the Atlantic Ocean by the 

 Strait of Gibraltar. This great 

 inland sea abounds with fish, and 

 also provides the finest coral, 

 sponge, and ambergris. 



Waterspouts, 108, are common 

 on the coast of Asia Minor ; vol- 

 canoes, 109, exist on the coast of 

 Naples, and the islands of the 

 Grecian Archipelago. In July, 

 1851, the remarkable active vol- 

 cano, named Graham's Island, 

 was shot up from the sea between 

 Sicily and the African coast. 

 The winds blow here with great 

 violence, frequently rising sud- 

 denly ; the burning winds from 

 the deserts, called the simoom, 

 passing over the waters of the 

 Mediterranean, forms what is 

 here named the sirocco. 



The effect of the sirocco upon those shores of 

 the Mediterranean which are chiefiy affected by 

 it, is thus described: — The blast of it Resembles 

 burning- sfceam from the mouth of an oven ; the 

 whole atmosphere, during- its continuance, seems 

 to be in a flame. In a few minutes, those who 

 are exposed to it find every fibre relaxed in a 

 most inconceivable manner, and the pores 

 opened to such a degree, that they expect im- 

 mediately to be thrown into a most profuse 

 sweat. " At this time," says a traveller who 

 experienced its effects, " the thermometer, 

 which stood in a room only at 73, rose imme- 

 diately in the open air to 110, and soon after to 

 112. The air was thick and heavy, but the 

 barometer was little affected, having fallen only 

 about a line. The sun did not appear during 

 the whole day ; otherwise the heat must have 

 been insupportable ; and on that side that was 

 exposed to the wind, it could not be borne 

 without difficulty for a few minutes. Upon 

 exposing pomatum to It, the heat of the wind 

 melted it as if it had been laid before the fire." 



This wind is more or less violent, and of longer 

 or shorter duration at different times : how- 

 ever, it seldom lasts more than thirty-six or 

 forty hours, so that the walls of the houses are 

 not warmed throughout, or else it is appre- 

 hended that it would be insupportable. Whilst 

 it lasts, the people of the country confine them- 

 selves within ; their windows and doors are 

 closed, to prevent the external air from entering ; 

 and where window-shutters are wanting, they 

 hang up wet blankets on the inside of the 

 window. The servants are constantly employed 



in sprinkling water through all the apartments, 

 in order to preserve the air in as temperate a 

 state as possible; and for this purpose, each 

 house in the city of Palermo is provided with a 

 fountain. By this means the people of fashion 

 suffer very little from this wind, except the 

 strict confinement to which it obliges them. 



Notwithstanding the scorching heat of the 

 sirocco, it has never been known to produce any 

 epidemical disorders, or to do any injury to the 

 health of the people. They feel, indeed, very 

 weak and relaxed after it ; but a few hours of-' 

 the north wind, which generally succeeds it, 

 soon braces them up again, and restores them 

 to their former state. 



Among the islands of the Me- 

 diterranean is JEgina, which, as 

 one of the earliest marts of Gre- 

 cian commerce, and the cradle of 

 that maritime supremacy which 

 made this gifted people at one 

 time the foremost nation of the 

 world for the arts of war and 

 peace, is an object of equal 

 wonder, admirafion, and historical 

 instruction. 



The island is barely ten miles in its utmost 

 length, with an average width little exceeding: 

 five, and with a soil so sterile and unhopeful* 

 that it had driven its first settlers away in des- 

 pair ; yet, in spite of its barren and circum- 

 scribed dimensions, by the energy of its new- 

 colonists, it rose, in a few centuries, to be the 

 centre of ail the commerce, and the most im- 

 portant maritime power in the world, of those 



14 



485. 



ages, sending out colonies, and establishing 

 centres of trade and business, even in Egypt, 

 the parent of all arts and sciences. So rapidly 

 had the people of this little island progressed in 

 wealth and influence, that, in the sixth century 

 before Christ, we learn from Aristotle that 

 iEgina contained alone nearly half a million of 

 slaves ; that, like Venice in after ages, all the 



