such a manner that those who venture to eat a heavy supper generally die during the night. The sick frequently sink under the pressure of their diseases, so that it is customary, in the morning after this wind has continued a whole night, to inquire who is dead. During the continuance of this wind, all nature appears to languish, vegetation withers and dies, the beasts of the field droop; the animal spirits are too much exhausted to admit of the least bodily exertion, and the spring and elasticity of the air appear to be lost. In the city of Palermo, in Sicily, where it frequently prevails, the inhabitants shut their doors and windows to exclude the air; where there are no windowshutters, wet blankets are hung on the inside of the windows, and the servants are kept continually employed in sprinkling the apartments with water, and the streets and avenues of the city appear at such times to be nearly deserted. This wind is frequently felt in Greece, Italy, the Levant, and other parts of southern Europe; it is occasioned by currents of heated air from the deserts of Zahara in Africa; but happily it is not of long continuance. In Sicily, it seldom lasts longer than thirty-six or forty hours.

The samiel, or mortifying wind, is perhaps, beyond all others, dreadful in its effects. It generally blows on the southern coasts of Arabia, and the deserts near the city of Bagdad; and is supposed to have been the pestilence of the ancients, frequently killing all those who are involved in its passage. What its malignity

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consists in, none can tell, as no one has ever survived its effects to give information. It has been said that it frequently assumes a visible form, and darts in a kind of bluish vapour along the surface of the country. The natives of Persia and Arabia talk of its effects with terror; they describe it as under the conduct of a minister of vengeance, who governs its terrors, and raises or depresses it as he thinks proper. The camels, either by instinct or experience, have notice of its approach, and are so well aware of it, that they are said to make an unusual noise, and cover their noses in the sand. It blows over the desert in the months of July and August, and rushes with violence to the very gates of Bagdad, but never injures any person in the city. To escape its effects, travellers throw themselves as close as possible to the ground, and wait till it has passed by, which is commonly a few minutes. As soon as

they who have life dare to rise up, they examine how it fares with their companions by pulling at their arms or legs; for, if they are destroyed by the wind, their limbs are absolutely mortified, and will come asunder. An extraordinary blasting wind is felt occasionally at Falkland's Islands, but it seldom continues above twentyfour hours. It cuts the herbage down as if fires had been made under it, so that the leaves are parched up and crumbled into dust. Fowls are seized with cramp, so as never to recover; and men are oppressed with a stopped perspiration, heaviness at the breast, and sore throats.

countries.

The simoon is a hot wind which prevails in Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and the adjacent When it begins to blow in Arabia, the atmosphere assumes an alarming aspect. The sky becomes dark and heavy, the sun loses his splendour, and becomes of a violet colour, and the air is thick from the subtle dust with which it is loaded. At first, the wind is light and rapid, and not remarkably hot; its temperature, however, soon increases, till it ranges at upwards of 128°. When it occurs, all animated bodies discover it by the change it produces in them. The lungs are contracted and become painful, respiration is short and difficult, the skin parched and dry, and the body consumed by an internal heat. The streets are deserted, and the dead silence of night reigns everywhere. The inhabitants of towns and villages shut themselves up in their houses, and those of the desert in their tents, or in wells dug in the earth, where they wait the termination of this destructive heat. The only refuge travellers have from it is, to fall down with their faces close to the ground, and to continue as long as possible without drawing in their breath. Mr. Bruce thus describes it, in his journey through the desert:-" At eleven o'clock, while we contemplated the top of Chiggre, where we were to solace ourselves with water, Idris, our guide, cried out with a loud voice, 'Fall upon your faces, for here is the simoom.' I saw from the south-east a haze, in colour like the purple part of the

rainbow, which did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, about twelve feet from the ground, and it moved very rapidly, for I could scarce turn to fall upon the ground, with my head to the north, when I felt the heat of its current plainly on my face. We all lay flat on the ground as if dead, till Idris told us it was blown The meteor or purple haze which I saw was indeed passed, but the light air which still blew was of heat to threaten suffocation. For my part, I found distinctly in my breast that I had imbibed a part of it, nor was I free of an asthmatic affection till I was in Italy two years afterwards.”

over.

Hurricanes are violent tempests of wind, accompanied with thunders and lightnings, rain, or hail. These fearful concussions of the atmosphere happen most frequently in the range of the West India Islands, and about the Cape of Good Hope. The forerunner of these hurricanes, when first seen, is only like a small black spot on the verge of the horizon, called by sailors the bull's eye. All this time a perfect calm reigns over sea and land, while at length, coming to the place where its fury is to fall, it invests the whole horizon with darkness. During its approach, a hollow murmur is heard in the cavities of the mountains, and animals, sensible of its approach, run over the fields to seek for shelter. Nothing can be more terrible than its violence when it begins. The sun, which, but a moment before, blazed in meridian splendour, is totally shut out, and a midnight

darkness prevails, except that the air is incessantly illuminated with gleams of lightning, so vivid that one can see to read, and the rain pours down in torrents. All the elements seem to arm themselves for the destruction of human labours, and even of the scenes of nature herself. The velocity of the wind is such, that corn, vines, sugar-canes, forests, houses, boats, ships, are swept away, or buried in the deep.

A tornado is a sudden and violent gust of wind from all points of the compass. It partakes somewhat of the nature of a hurricane, but is still more violent in its effects. The winds seem to blow from every quarter, and settle upon one destined place, with such fury that nothing can resist their vehemence. When they have met in their central spot, the whirlwind begins with circular rapidity. The sphere every moment widens, as it continues to turn, and catches every object that lies within its attraction. The mariner, within the reach of its influence at sea, must try all his power and skill to avoid it, which if he fail o doing, there is the greatest danger of his going to the bottom. Tornadoes most frequently rage along the coasts of Guinea, and other parts of western Africa.

Such are a few brief sketches of the phenomena of noxious and stormy winds. It is evident that they did not exist in the primitive state of our globe; for the operation of such agents of terror and destruction appears altogether inconsistent with the idea that man is