CHAPTER I. Physical Observations, &c. or an Essay towards the Natural History of Syria, Phanice, and the Holy Land. THE air and weather, in these countries, differ very little from the descriptions that have been given of them in the natural history of Barbary*. For among many other particulars of the like nature and quality, which need not be repeated, we find the westerly winds to be here attended with rain. When we see a cloud, says our Saviour, Luke xii. 54. rise out of the west, sraightway ye say, There cometh a shower, and so it is t. But the easterly winds are usually dry, notwithstanding they are sometimes exceeding hazy and tempestuous; at which times they are called, by the seafaring people, Levanters, being not confined to any one single point, but blow in all directions, from the N. E. round by the N. to the S. E. The great wind, or mighty tempest, or vehement east wind, described by the prophet Jonas, (i. 4. and iv. 8.) appears to have been one of these Levan ters. * Vid. p. 245, &c. The †This branch of the natural history is further taken notice of, 1 Kings xviii. 41, &c. The Euroclydon also, which we read of in the history of St Paul, (Acts xxvii. 14.) was, in all probability, the same. For it was, as St Luke describeth it, avsμes tuparixes †, a violent or tempestuous wind, bearing away all before it; and, from the circumstances which attended it, appears to have varied very little, throughout the whole period of it, from the true east point. For after the ship could not, arroqdadμuv, bear, or in the mariner's term, loof up against it, ver. 15. but they were obliged to let her drive, we cannot conceive, as there are no remarkable currents in this part of Eugoxλudov, according to the annotations of Erasmus, Vatablus, and others, is said to be, wox hinc ducta, quod ingentes fluctus; as if those commentators understood it to have been, as Phavorinus writes it (in voce Tvowi) Evgueλudwv, and, as such, compounded of sugus, (latus, amplùs, &c.) and xλodov, Auctus. But rather, if an etymology is required, as we find xλudar used by the LXXII, (Jon. i. 4, 12.) instead of yD, which always denotes a tempest, as I conjecture, properly so called, Egon will be the same with Evgs xhuday, i. e. an eastern tempest, and so far express the very meaning that is affixed to a Levanter at this time. + Though Tupar or Tupas may sometimes denote a whirlwind, yet it seems in general to be taken for any violent wind or tempest. According to an observation of Grotius upon the place, Judæis Hellenistis Tvows est quavis violentior procella. Tus yog KATKIɣidades aveμev Tu‡ws naàxoi, says Suidas, Aristot. De Mundo, c. 4. seems to distinguish it from the Rensng (which he calls a violent strong wind), by not being attended with any fiery meteors. Εαν δε (πνευμα) ημίπυρον η, σφοδρον δε αλλως και αθρόον, Πρητης [καλείται] εαν δε άπυρον η παντελως, Τυφων. Tupav, as Olympiodorus, in his comment upon the foregoing passage, is so called, δια το τύπτειν δια τας ταχες τα πνεύματος ; or δια το τυπ σφοδρώς, as we read it in C. a Lapide. Acts xxvii. 14. Trow γαρ εσιν ή τα ανέμε σφόδρα πνοη· ός και ευρυκλυδων καλειται. Phavor. in lex. One of these Levanters is beautifully described by Virgil (Geor. ii. ver. 107.) in the following lines: .......... Ubi navigiis violentior incidit Eurus, instruct us, |