ABSTRACT
VITRUVIUS, that celebrated man, has been awarded unceasing praise because in his work on the foundation and completion of V buildings he discerned and taught people about the harmful and the healthy winds that should be either welcomed or avoided on dry land; 1 how much more deserving of congratulation are those writers who have instructed us about which winds are to be sought or shunned on the huge expanse of the sea and in the rugged wastes, for knowledge of them will spell safety, ignorance certain death and destruction. It appears that unfortunate men, wandering through trackless forests among savage animals, sometimes by their experience and knowledge of winds escape no smaller hazards to their lives than others who evade frightful shipwrecks and imminent death in storms and tempests at sea. Versed in this art the Tartars and Scythians, though they have no roads in the deserts, quite often travel successfully even in time of war: perhaps taking as their guide this law of Nature, that the thicker tops and boughs of the trees, being drawn by the sun toward the south, very frequently point to the dwellings of men for those who are astray, just as such folk need to keep away from the longer shadows towards the west.
Vitruvius
Knowledge of winds necessary
Route to be found in a desert
