In that part of the country where I resided are found neither lakes, rivers, marshes, nor any other appearance of water but the wells which are dug for domestic consumption, except during the rainy season. At that period torrents, of greater or less dimensions, intersect the country in all directions. The rainy season lasts from before the middle of June to the middle or end of September. This season is called Harîf[47]. I have observed that the rain, which is generally very heavy and accompanied with lightning, falls most frequently from 3 P.M. till midnight. The changes of the wind are not periodical but instantaneous. It is with a southerly wind that the greatest heat prevails; and with a South-East that the greatest quantity of rain falls. When the breeze is from the North or North-west it is most refreshing, but does not generally continue long in that quarter. The hot and oppressive winds which fill the air with thick dust blow constantly from the South. One day, while I was sitting in the market-place at Cobbé, I observed a singular appearance in the air, which soon discovered itself to be a column of sand, raised from the desert by a whirlwind. It was apparently about a mile and a half distant, and continued about eight minutes; this phenomenon had nothing of the tremendous appearance of the columns of sand described by Bruce as rising between Assuân and Chendi, being merely a light cloud of sand. The harvest is conducted in a very simple manner. The women and slaves of the proprietor are employed to break off the ears with their hands, leaving the straw standing, which is afterwards applied to buildings and various other useful purposes. They then accumulate them in baskets, and carry them away on their heads. When threshed, which is awkwardly and incompletely performed, they expose the grain to the sun till it become quite dry; after this an hole in the earth is prepared, the bottom and sides of which are covered with chaff to exclude the vermin. This cavity or magazine is filled with grain, which is then covered with chaff, and afterwards with earth. In this way the maize is preserved tolerably well. In using it for food, they grind it, and boil it in the form of polenta, which is eaten either with fresh or sour milk, or still more frequently with a sauce made of dried meat pounded in a mortar, and boiled with onions, &c. The Furians use little butter; with the Egyptians and Arabs it is an article in great request. There is also another sauce which the poorer people use and highly relish, it is composed of an herb called _Cowel_ or _Cawel_, of a taste in part acescent and in part bitter, and generally disagreeable to strangers.