Note 1 — Chapter I
Reading edition
: Arabic "maussam." I believe the root belongs to a dialect of India, and signifies "seasons." VINCENT fixes the discovery of the monsoons by Hippalus about the year A.D. 47, although it admits of no doubt that the periodical prevalence of the winds must have been known long before, if not partially taken advantage of by the seamen of Arabia and India. Periplus, &c., vol. ii, pp. 24—57.