to the middle of the calf of the legs, are entirely of a beautiful lively white; there is alfo a white fpot in the upper part of the penis. Over the white parts of the legs there is a light white down, longer and thicker than children commonly have at this age. Such is the natural history of thofe two extraordinary children; but what caufes have produced thofe furprifing phænomena and alteration of the natural colour of their fkin, are left for others to inveftigate and explain. Monf. le Vallois relates that the mother of Adelaide, whilft pregnant with her, was delighted in laying out all night in the open air, and contemplating the ftars and planets, and that the great grandmother of Jean Pierre (a white lady) during the time of her being with child of her daughter, his grandmother by the father's fide, was frightened on having fome milk fpilled upon her. Whether this will account for her daughter and grandchildren being marked in the manner related, and for the fpots obferved on the mulatto boy defcending to him; or whether the ftrong impreffion made upon the mother of Adelaide, by the nightly view of the stars and planetary fyi tem, may be confidered as the cause of the very extraordinary appearances in that girl, every one will determine for themselves; there being many who difpute children's being ever marked by the fears, longings, or impreffions made by mothers on the bodies of their children, at a certain time of pregnancy; for which they endeavour to account in different ways; whilft others, who have known a variety of children born with different marks on them, (which have fallen under their particular notice) are equally confident of thofe marks proceeding from the caufes alledged. Defcription of a remarkable Rock and Cafcade, near the Western Side of the Youghiogeny River, a Quarter of a Mile from Crawford's Ferry, and about Twelve Miles from Union-Town, in Fayette County, in the State of Pennsylvania. From the fame Work. By Thomas Hutchins. a rock of a femicircular form, HIS cafcade is occafioned by the chord of which, from one extreme end of the arch to the other, is nearly one hundred yards; the arch or circular part is extenfive, and upwards of twenty feet in height, exhibiting a grand and romantic appearance. This very curious production is compofed of stone of variegated colours, and a fpecies of marble beautifully chequered with veins running in different directions, prefenting on a clole infpection a faint refemblance of a variety of mathematical figures of different angles and magnitudes. The operations of nature in this ftructure feems to be exceedingly uniform and majeftic; the layers or rows of ftone of which it is compofed are of various lengths and thickneffes, more refembling the effects of art than nature. A flat thin ftone from eight to ten inches thick, about twenty feet wide, forms the upper part of this amphitheatre, over which the ftream precipitates. The whole front of this rock is made up from top to bottom, as E 4 well well as from one extremity of the arch to the other, of a regular fucceffion, principally, of limestone, ftrata over ftrata, and each ftratum or row projecting in an horizontal direction a little further out than its base, until it terminates into one entire flat, thin, extenfive piece, as already mentioned; and which jets out at right angles or in a parallel line with the bottom, over which it impends fifteen or twenty feet, and that without columns or even a fingle pillar for its fupport. This circumftance, together with the grand circular walk between the front of the rock and the sheet of water falling from the fummit, exhibits fo noble and fingular an appearance, that a spectator cannot behold it without admiration and delight. Delta in fummer, and but rarely, and in fmall quantities, during the whole courfe of the year. The year 1761, obferved by M. Niebuhr, was an extraordinary cafe, which is ftill frequently mentioned. The ac cidents occafioned by the rains in Lower Egypt, in which a number of villages, built with earth, crumbled to pieces, afford a fufficient proof that this abundance of water is there looked upon as very rare. It must be observed, likewife, that it rains ftill lefs as you afcend towards the Said. Thus, rain is more frequent at Alexandria and Rosetta than at Cairo, and at Cairo than at Miniah, and is almost a prodigy at Djirdja. As for us, the inhabitants of humid countries, we cannot conceive how it is poffible for a country to subsist without rain * ; but in Egypt, befides the quantity of water which the earth imbibes at the inundation, the dews which fall in the fummer might fuffice for vegetation. The melons, called paftekes, afford a remarkable proof of this; for though they have frequently nothing under them but a dry duft, yet their leaves are always fresh. These dews, as well as the rains, are more copious towards the fea, and lefs confiderable in proportion to their diftance from it; but differ from them by being more abundant in fummer than in winter. At Alexandria, after funfet, in the month of April, the clothes expofed to the air, and the terraces, are foaked with them, as if it had rained. Like the rains, again, thefe dews are more or less heavy, according to the prevailing When rain falls in Egypt and in Palestine, there is a general joy among the people; they affemble together in the streets, they fing, are all in motion, and shout, ya allah! ya mobarek! that is to fay, O God! O Bleffed! &c. wind. The foutherly and the foutheafterly produce none; the north wind a great deal, and the wefterly ftill more. These varieties are eafily explained, by obferving that the two former proceed from the deferts of Africa and Arabia, which afford not a drop of water; that the northerly and wefterly winds, on the contrary, convey over Egypt the vapours from the Mediterranean, which the firft croffes, and the other traverses lengthways. I find, even, on comparing my obfervations on this fubject in Provence, in Syria, and in Egypt, with thofe of M. Niebuhr in Arabia and at Bombay, that this relative pofition of the feas and continents is the cause of the various qualities of one and the fame wind, which produces rain in one country, while it is invariably dry in another; a remark which deranges not a little the fyftems of both ancient and modern aftrologers refpecting the inAuence of the planets. Another phænomenon, no less remarkable, is the periodical return of each wind, and its appropriation, so to speak, to certain feafons of the year. Egypt and Syria prefent, in this refpect, a regularity worthy of winds continue northerly in July, but vary fometimes toward the weft. and fometimes toward the east. About the end of July, during all the month of Auguft, and half of September, they remain constantly in the north, and are moderate; brisker in the day, however, and weaker at night. At this period an univerfal calm reigns on the Mediterranean, fo that fhips would be seventy or eighty days in returning to France. Towards the end of September, when the fun repaffes the line, the winds return to the caft; and, tho not fixed, blow more regularly from that than any other point, except the north. Veffels avail themselves of this season, which lafts all O&ober and part of November, to return to Europe; and the run to Marseilles is from thirty to five and thirty days. As the fun approaches the other tropic, the winds become more variable and more tempeftuous; they moft ufually blow from the north, the north-west, and weft, in which points they continue during the months of December, January, and February, which is the winter feafon in Egypt, as well as with us. The vapours of the Mediterranean, condensed by the coldness of the atmosphere, defcend in mifts and rains. Towards the end of February and in March, when the fun returns towards the equator, the winds are more frequently foutherly than at any other feafon. During this last month, and that of April, the fouth-easterly, fouth, and fouth-wefterly winds prevail; and at times the weft, north, and east; the latter of which becomes the moft prevalent about the end of April; and during May it divides with with the north the empire of the fea, and renders the paffage to France ftill more expeditious than at the other equinox. Of the hot Wind, or Kamfin. The foutherly winds, of which I have been fpeaking, are known in Egypt by the general name of winds of fifty (days)*; not that they latt fifty days without intermiffion, but because they prevail more frequent ly in the fifty days preceding and following the equinox. Travellers have mentioned them under the denomination of poisonous winds +; or, more correctly, hot winds of the defert. Such, in fact, is their quality; and their heat is fometimes fo exceffive, that it is difficult to form any idea of its violence without having experienced it; but it may be compared to the heat of a large oven at the moment of drawing out the bread. When these winds begin to blow, the atmosphere af fumes an alarming afpect. The fky, at other times fo clear, in this climate, becomes dark and heavy; the fun lofes his fplendour, and appears of a violet colour. The air is not cloudy, but grey and thick, and is, in fact, filled with an extremely fubtle duft, which penetrates every where. This wind, always light and rapid, is not at firit remarkably hot, but it increases in heat in proportion as it continues. All animated bodies foon discover it, by the change it pro duces in them. The lungs, which a too rarefied air no longer expands, are contracted, and become painful. Refpiration is fhort and difficult, the kin parched and dry, and the body confumed by an internal heat. In vain is recourfe had to large draughts of water; nothing can restore perfpiration. In vain is coolness fought for; all bodies in which it is ufual to find it, deceive the hand that touches them. Marble, iron, water, notwithstanding the fun no longer appears, are hot. The ftreets are deferted, and the dead filence of night reigns every where. The inhabitants of towns and villages fhut themselves up in their houfes, and thofe of the defert in their tents, or in wells dug in the earth, where they wait the termination of this deftructive heat. It ufually lafts three days, but if it exceeds that time it becomes infupportable. Woe to the traveller whom this wind furprizes remote from shelter; he must fuffer all its horrible effects, which fometimes are mortal. The danger is most imminent when it blows in fqualls, for then the rapidity of the wind encreases the heat to fuch a degree, as to caufe fudden death. This death is a real fuffocation; the lungs being empty, are convulfed, the circulation dif ordered, and the whole mafs of blood driven by the heart towards the head and breaft; whence that hæmorrhage at the nose and mouth which happens after death. This 1 * In Arabic, kamfin; but the k reprefents the Spanish jota, or the German ch. + The Arabs of the defert call them semoum, or poisen; and the Turks fhamyela, or wind of Syria, from which is formed the Samiel wind. Baron de Tott tranilates this word the wind of Damajcus, which is the capital of Syria. wind is especially deftructive to perfons of a plethoric habit, and thofe in whom fatigue has deftroyed the tone of the muscles and the veffels. The corple remains a long time warm, fwells, turns blue, and is eafily feparated; all which are figns of that putrid fermentation which takes place in animal bodies when the humours become stagnant. Thefe accidents are to be avoided, by ftopping the nose and mouth with handkerchiefs; an efficacious method likewife is that practifed by the camels, which bury their nofes in the fand, and keep them there till the fquali is over. Another quality of this wind is its extreme aridity; which is fuch, that water sprinkled on the floor evaporates in a few minutes; by this extreme drynefs, it withers and ftrips all the plants, and, by exhaling too fuddenly the emanations from animal bodies, crifps the fkin, clofes the pores, and caufes that feverish heat which is the invariable effect of fuppreffed perfpiration. Thefe hot winds are not peculiar to Egypt; they blow likewife in Syria; more frequently, however, near the fea, and in the defert, than on the mountains. M. Niebuhr met with them in Arabia, at Bombay, and in the Diarbekir: they are also known in Perfia, in the reft of Africa, and even in Spain; every where their effects are fimi lar, but their direction varies ac cording to the fituation of the country. In Egypt, the moft violent proceed from the fouth-fouthweft; at Mecca, from the eaft; at Surat, from the north; at Baffora, from the north-weft; from the weft at Bagdad; and in Syria from the fouth-eaft. These varieties, which feem embarraffing at first fight, on reflection, furnish the means of folving the enigma. We find, on examination, that these winds always proceed from defert continents; and, in fact, it is natural that the air which covers the immenfe plains of Lybia and Arabia, meeting there neither with rivulets, nor lakes, nor forefts, but fcorched by the rays of a burning fun, and the reflection of the fand, fhould acquire a prodigious degree of heat and aridity; and if any cause intervenes to set it in motion, it cannot but carry with it the destructive qualities it has imbibed; it is fo true that these qualities are owing to the action of the fun upon the fands, that thefe fame winds produce not the fame effects at every season. In Egypt, for example, I am afsured, that the foutherly winds in December and January are as cold as thofe from the north; and the reafon of this is, that the fun, having reached the fouthern tropic, no longer burns up the northern parts of Africa, and that Abyffinia, which is extremely mountainous, is covered with fnow. The fun must approach the equator to produce thefe phænomena. From a fimilar reason, the south wind has much lefs effect in Cyprus, where it arrives cooled by the vapours of the Mediterranean. That from the north poffeffes its characteristic qualities in this island, where the inhabitants complain that its heat is infupportable in fummer, while it is freezing cold in winter ; which evidently arifes from the ftate of Afia Minor, which in fummer is burnt up, and in winter covered with ice. In fact, this fubject offers a multitude of problems, cal culated 7 |