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 tempestu ous; 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, aveμos tuQwvixes †, 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, avrodaxμav, 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 Eugenλuday, according to the annotations of Erasmus, Vatablus, and others, is said to be, vox hinc ducta, quod ingentes fluctus; as if those commentators understood it to have been, as Phavorinus writes it (in voce Tupar) Euguxλudar, and, as such, compounded of ivgvs, (latus, amplus, &c.) and xλvdwy, fluctus. 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, Eugoxλudy will be the same with Evg xavdwy, 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 Tvpws est quævis violentior procella. Tus yue καταιγιδώδεις ανέμεν Τυφώς καλεσι, says Suidas. Aristot. De Mundo, c. 4. seems to distinguish it from the Пgnsng (which he calls a violent strong wind), by not being attended with any fiery meteors. Εαν δε (πνευμα) ήμιπυρον η, σφοδρον δε άλλως και αθρόον, Πρη της [καλείται] εαν δε άπυρον η παντελως, Τυφων. Τύφων, as Olympiodorus, in his comment upon the foregoing passage, instruct us, is so called, δια το τύπτειν δια τα ταχος τα πνεύματος ; or δια το τυπο Ter podews, as we read it in C. a Lapide. Acts xxvii. 14. Topwi γαρ εσιν ή τις ανέμες σφόδρα πνοητός και ευρυκλυδων καλείται. 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, of the sea, and as the rudder could be of little use, that it could take any other course, than as the winds alone directed it. Accordingly, in the description of the storm, we find the vessel was first of all under the island Clauda, ver. 16. which is a little to the southward of the parallel of that part of the coast of Crete, from whence it may be supposed to have been driven; then it was tossed along the bottom of the Gulf of Adria, ver. 27.; and afterwards broken to pieces, ver. 41. at Melita, which is a little to the northward of the parallel above mentioned; so that the direction and course of this particular Euroclydon seems to have been first at E. by N. and afterwards pretty nearly E. by S. But Grotius*, Cluver†, and others, authorised herein by the Alexandrian MS. and the Vulgate Latin, are of opinion, that the true reading should be Evgoaxuλ, Euroaquilo; a word indeed as little known as Euroclydon, though perhaps less entitled to be received. For this Euroaquilo, agreeable to the words of which it is compounded, must have been a wind betwixt the Eurus and the Aquilo, and consequently would be the same with VOL. II. R * Vid. Grot. Annot. in Act. xxvii. 14. Ego amplectendam heic omnino censeo vocem, quam divus Hieronymus et ante hunc auctor Vulgata sacrorum bibliorum versionis, in suis exemplaribus legerunt Evgaanvaar, Euroaquilo, quod vocabulum ex duabus vocibus, altera Græca Evgos, altera Latina Aquilo, compositum, eum denotat ventum, qui inter Aquilonem et Eurum medius spirat, qui recta ab meridionali Cretæ latere navim infra Gaudum versus Syrtin abripere poterat. Clav. Sicil. Antiq. 1. ii. p. 442. with the Cacias* or Kamis; a name so frequently taken notice of by the Roman authors, that it appears to have been adopted into their language. Thus we find Vitruvius (l. i. c. 6.) describing the position of the Cacias, without distinguishing it by Greek characters, or making any apology for the introduction of a foreign name. Plinyt likewise calls the same wind Hellespontias, as blowing from the Hellespont. The Cacias therefore must have been known very early in the Roman navigation; and consequently, even provided the mariners had been Romans, there was no necessity at this time, and upon such an occasion, for the introduction of Euroaquilo, which must have been altogether || a new term. Besides, as we learn, Acts xxvii. 6. that the ship was of Alexandria, sailing to Italy, the mariners may well be supposed to have been Grecians, and must therefore be too well acquainted with the received and vernacular terms of their occupation, to admit of this Græco-Latin, or barbarous appellation. For it may be very justly objected, that, provided the Euroaquilo had been a * Ab oriente solstitiali excitatum, Græci Kaixiv appellant: apud nos sine nomine est. Senec. Nat. Quæst. 1. v. c. 16. Euri vero medias partes tenent; in extremis, Cæcias et Vulturnus. Vitr. Arch. 1. i. c. 6. + Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. ii. c. 47. Cacias aliqui vocant Hellespontian. Plin. ibid. Kaixias, és EXANOWOVTINY Evo xaλ. Arist. Meteor. 1. ii. c. 6. || Cacias media inter Aquilonem et exortum æquinoctialem, ab ortu solstitiali. Plin. ut supra. |