In The Face
Of This Difficulty A General Want Of Energy And Of The Necessary Capital
Is Exhibited By The Total Neglect Of Wind-Power, In A Country Where A
Steady Breeze Is The Rule, With Few Exceptions.
Throughout the great
plain of Messaria windmills would be invaluable, both for grinding
purposes and for raising water; nothing would be more simple than the
combination of the wind-vane with the cattle-pump; but this great and
almost omnipresent power is absolutely ignored.
On our return to camp in the evening, I resolved to have a quiet day
with my dogs on the following morning, when I could stroll at my leisure
over the mountains, and enjoy myself thoroughly according to my own
tastes, sometimes obtaining a shot at game, and observing every object
in nature.
It was 15th February, and with a native guide and interpreter who spoke
Arabic, which was my medium of dialogue, I started to cross the
mountain-range upon the east of the well-known five-knuckled-top named
"Pentadactylon." At the expense of repetition I cannot help extracting
from my diary the exact words of description rough from the first
impulse: "The base of this range is an extraordinary example of the
action of rainfall in melting and washing down into conical mounds
several hundred feet high, what was originally a high level of
continuous but alternating strata of marls and alluvium that had
descended from the higher mountains. These vast masses are in a chaotic
confusion of separate heaps, which at a distance resemble volcanic
cones.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 91 of 524
Words from 24460 to 24721
of 143016