Part 44 (1/2)
It is a consolation to every good man, to consider that the world is governed by a wise and good, as well as powerful BEING, who gives liberty to the powers of nature to range, or restrains them, as may best suit his divine purposes; which have always the ultimate good of the whole creation in view.
CHAP. XLIX.
CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WINDS, HURRICANES, &c.
_Remarkable Winds in Egypt--Whirlwinds of Egypt--Tornado--Harmattan-- Hurricane--Monsoons--Velocity of the Wind._
Bound as they are, and circ.u.mscrib'd in place, They rend the world, resistless where they pa.s.s, And mighty marks of mischief leave behind; Such is the rage of their tempestuous kind.
First, Eurus, to the rising morn is sent, The regions of the balmy continent, And eastern realms, where early Persians run To greet the blest appearance of the sun.
Westward the wanton Zephyr wings his flight, Pleas'd with the remnant of departing light; Fierce Boreas, with his offspring, issues forth T' invade the frozen waggon of the north; While frowning Auster seeks the southern sphere.
_Ovid._
REMARKABLE WINDS IN EGYPT.
Egypt is infested with the destructive blasts common to all warm countries which have deserts in their neighbourhood. These have been distinguished by various names, such as Poisonous winds, Hot winds of the desert, Samiel, the wind of Damascus, Camseen, and Simoom. In Egypt they are denominated ”Winds of fifty days,” because they most commonly prevail during the fifty days preceding and following the equinox, though, should they blow constantly during one half of that time, an universal destruction would be the consequence. Of these, travellers have given various descriptions. M. Volney says, that the violence of their heat may be compared to that of a large oven at the moment of drawing out the bread. They always blow from the south, and are undoubtedly owing to the motion of the atmosphere over such vast tracts of hot sand, which cannot be supplied with a sufficient quant.i.ty of moisture. When they begin to blow, the sky loses its usual serenity, and a.s.sumes a dark, heavy, and alarming aspect, the sun laying aside his usual splendour, and becoming of a violet colour. This terrific appearance seems not to be occasioned by any real haze or cloud in the atmosphere at that time, but solely by the vast quant.i.ty of fine sand carried along by those winds, and which is so excessively subtile that it penetrates every where. The motion of this wind is always rapid, but its heat is not intolerable till it has continued for some time. Its pernicious qualities are evidently occasioned by its excessive aridity; for it dries and shrivels up the skin, and, by affecting the lungs in a similar manner, soon produces suffocation and death. The danger is greatest to those of a plethoric habit, or who have been exhausted by fatigue; and putrefaction very soon takes place in the bodies of such as are destroyed by it. Its extreme dryness is such, that water sprinkled on the floor evaporates in a few minutes; all the plants are withered and stripped of their leaves, and a fever is instantly produced in the human species by the suppression of perspiration. It usually lasts three days, but is altogether insupportable if it continue beyond that time.
The danger is greatest when the wind blows in squalls, and to travellers who happen to be exposed to its fury without any shelter. The best method, in this case, is to stop the nose and mouth with a handkerchief: camels, by a natural instinct, bury their noses in the sand, and keep them there till the squall is over. The inhabitants, who have an opportunity of retiring to their houses, instantly shut themselves up in them, or go into pits made in the earth, till the destructive blast is over.
The description of a blast of this kind, which overtook Mr. Bruce, in the desert of Nubia, is still more terrible.--The sun was now obscured by them,[21] and the transmission of his rays gave them a dreadful appearance, resembling pillars of fire. This was p.r.o.nounced by the guide to be a sign of the approaching simoom, or hot wind; and he directed, that when it came, the people should fall upon their faces, and keep their mouths on the sand, to avoid drawing in this pernicious blast with their breath. On his calling out that the simoon was coming, Mr. Bruce turned for a moment to the quarter from whence it came, which was the south-east.
It appeared like a haze or fog of a purple colour, but less bright than the purple part of the rainbow; seemingly about twenty yards in breadth, and about twelve feet high from the ground. It moved with such rapidity, that before he could turn about and fall down, he felt the vehement heat of its current upon his face; and even after it pa.s.sed over, which was very quickly, the air which followed was of such a heat as to threaten suffocation. Mr. Bruce had unfortunately inspired some part of the pernicious blast; by which means he almost entirely lost his voice, and became subject to an asthmatic complaint, from which he did not get free for two years.
The same phenomenon occurred twice over on their journey through this desert. The second time it came from the south a little to the east, but it seemed to have a shade of blue along with the purple, and its edges were less perfectly defined, resembling rather a thin smoke, and having about a yard in the middle tinged with blue and purple.
The third time, it was preceded by an appearance of sandy pillars, more magnificent than any they had yet observed; the sun s.h.i.+ning through them in such a manner as to give those which were nearest a resemblance of being spangled with stars of gold. The simoom which followed had the same blue and purple appearance as before, and was followed by a most suffocating wind for two hours, which reduced our travellers to the lowest degree of weakness and despondency.
It was remarkable, that this wind always came from the south-east, while the sandy pillars, which prognosticated its approach, seemed to keep to the westward, and to occupy the vast circular s.p.a.ce inclosed by the Nile to the west of their route, going round by Chaigie towards Dongola. The heaps of sand left by them when they fell, or raised by the whirlwinds which carried them up, were twelve or thirteen feet high, exactly conical, tapering to a fine point, and their bases well proportioned.
The following account of the WHIRLWINDS OF EGYPT, is from Belzoni's Narrative:--”A strong wind which arose this day leads me to mention some particulars of the phenomena that often happen in Egypt. The first I shall notice is the whirlwinds, which occur all the year round, but especially at the time of the camseen wind, which begins in April, and lasts fifty days. Hence the name of _camseen_, which in Arabic signifies fifty. It generally blows from the south-west, and lasts four, five, or six days without varying, so very strong that it raises the sands to a great height, forming a general cloud, so thick that it is impossible to keep the eyes open, if not under cover. It is troublesome, even to the Arabs; it forces the sand into the houses through every cranny, and fills every thing with it. The caravans cannot proceed in the deserts; the boats cannot continue their voyages; and travellers are obliged to eat sand, in spite of their teeth. The whole is like a chaos. Often a quant.i.ty of sand and small stones gradually ascends to a great height, and forms a column of sixty or seventy feet in diameter, and so thick, that were it steady on one spot, it would appear a solid ma.s.s. This not only revolves within its own circ.u.mference, but runs in a circular direction over a great s.p.a.ce of ground, sometimes maintaining itself in motion for half an hour, and wherever it falls it acc.u.mulates a small hill of sand. G.o.d help the poor traveller who is caught under it!”
We shall now describe a TORNADO.--This is a sudden and vehement gust of wind from all points of the compa.s.s, and frequent on the coast of Guinea.
A tornado seems to partake much of the nature of a whirlwind, or perhaps of a water-spout, but is more violent in its effects. It commences very suddenly: several clouds being previously drawn together, a spout of wind, proceeding from them, strikes the ground, in a round spot of a few rods or perches in diameter, and proceeds thus half a mile or a mile. The p.r.o.neness of its descent makes it rebound from the earth, throwing such things as are moveable before it, sideways, or in a lateral direction from it. A vapour, mist, or rain, descends with it, by which the path of it is marked with wet.
The following is a description of one which happened a few years since at Leicester, about fifty miles from Boston, in New England: it happened in July, on a hot day, about four o'clock in the afternoon. A few clouds having gathered westward, and coming over-head, a sudden motion of their running together in a point, being observed, immediately a spout of wind struck the west end of a house, and instantly carried it away, with a negro man in it, who was afterwards found dead in its path. Two men and a woman, by the breach of the floor, fell into the cellar; and one man was driven forcibly up into the chimney corner. These were preserved, though much bruised; they were wet with a vapour or mist, as were the remains of the floor, and the whole path of the spout. This wind raised boards, timbers, &c. A joist was found on one end, driven nearly three feet into the ground. The spout probably took it in its elevated state, and drove it forcibly down. The tornado moved with the celerity of a moderate wind, and declined in strength till it entirely ceased.
HARMATTAN.--This is a name given to a singular wind, which blows periodically from the interior parts of Africa, towards the Atlantic ocean. It prevails in December, January, and February, and is generally accompanied by a fog or haze, that conceals the sun for whole days together. Extreme dryness is the characteristic of this wind: no dew falls during its continuance, which is sometimes for a fortnight or more. The whole vegetable creation is withered, and the gra.s.s becomes at once like hay. The natives take the opportunity which this wind gives them, of clearing the land, by setting fire to trees and plants in this their exhausted state. The dryness is so extreme, that household furniture is damaged, and the wainscot of the rooms flies to pieces. The human body is also affected by it, so as to cause the skin to peel off; but in other respects it is deemed salutary to the const.i.tution, by stopping the progress of infection, and curing almost all cutaneous diseases.
We now proceed to some curious particulars, under the term HURRICANE.--This is indeed a general name for any violent storm of wind, but is peculiarly applied to those storms which happen in the warmer climates, and which greatly exceed the most violent ones known in this country. Dr. Mosely, in his Treatise on Tropical Diseases, observes, that the ruin and desolation accompanying a hurricane can scarcely be described. Like fire, its resistless force consumes every thing in its track, in the most terrible and rapid manner. It is generally preceded by an awful stillness of the elements, and a closeness and mistiness in the atmosphere, which makes the sun appear red, and the stars larger. But a dreadful reverse succeeds: the sky is suddenly overcast and wild; the sea rises at once from a profound calm into mountains; the wind rages and roars like the noise of cannon; the rain descends in a deluge; a dismal obscurity envelops the earth with darkness; and the superior regions appear rent with lightning and thunder. The earth on these occasions often does, and always seems to tremble; whilst terror and consternation distract all nature: birds are carried from the woods into the ocean; and those whose element is the sea, seek for refuge on land; the frightened animals in the field a.s.semble together, and are almost suffocated by the impetuosity of the wind in searching for shelter, which, when found, is but the prelude to destruction. The roofs of houses are carried to vast distances from their walls, which are beat to the ground, burying their inhabitants under them. Large trees are torn up by the roots, and huge branches s.h.i.+vered off, and driven through the air in every direction with immense velocity. Every tree and shrub that withstands the shock is stripped of its boughs and foliage; plants and gra.s.s are laid flat on the earth; and luxuriant spring is changed in a moment to dreary winter. This direful tragedy ended, (when it happens in a town,) the devastation is surveyed with acc.u.mulated horror: the harbour is covered with wrecks of boats and vessels; and the sh.o.r.e has not a vestige of its former state remaining. Mounds of rubbish and rafters in one place; heaps of earth and trunks of trees in another; deep gullies from torrents of water; and the dead and dying bodies of men, women, and children, half buried, and scattered about, where streets stood but an hour before,--present the miserable survivors with the shocking conclusion of a spectacle, to be followed by famine, and, when accompanied by an earthquake, by mortal diseases.
Philosophers are now inclined to attribute these terrible phenomena to electricity, though the manner in which it acts in this case is by no means known. It seems probable, indeed, that not only hurricanes, but even the most gentle gales of wind, are produced by the action of the electric fluid.
In the next place we shall treat of MONSOONS, or TRADE-WINDS.
”Trade-winds, observing well their stated course, To human good employ their pow'rful force; The loaded s.h.i.+ps across the ocean fann'd By steady gales, spread commerce through the land: These you observe--but have you no desire The hidden spring of such effects t'inquire?
Or, when contending winds around you blow, Do you ne'er wish the cause of them to know?”