Chaps. 70-76.

Chap. 70.—Remedies Against These Noxious Influences.

When you have reason to fear these influences, make bonfires in the fields and vineyards of cuttings or heaps of chaff, or else of the weeds that have been rooted up; the smoke [Columella, De Arborib. c. 13, gives similar advice.] will act as a good preservative. The smoke, too, of burning chaff will be an effectual protection against the effects of fogs, when likely to be injurious. Some persons recommend that three crabs should be burnt [This absurd practice is mentioned in the Geoponica, B. v. c. 31.] alive among the trees on which the vines are trained, to prevent these from being attacked by coal blight; while others say that the flesh of the silurus [As to this fish, see B. ix. c. 17.] should be burnt in a slow fire, in such a way that the smoke may be dispersed by the wind throughout the vineyard.

Varro informs us, that if at the setting of the Lyre, which is the beginning of autumn, a painted grape [“Uva picta.” This absurdity does not seem to be found in any of Varro’s works that have come down to us.] is consecrated in the midst of the vineyard, the bad weather will not be productive of such disastrous results as it otherwise would. Archibius [Nothing whatever is known of him or his works; and, as Fée says, apparently the loss is little to be regretted.] has stated, in a letter to Antiochus, king of Syria, that if a bramble-frog [Rubeta rana.] is buried in a new earthen vessel, in the middle of a corn-field, there will be no storms to cause injury.

Chap. 71.—Work to Be Done After the Summer Solstice.

The following are the rural occupations for this interval of time—the ground must have another turning up, and the trees must be cleared about the roots and moulded up, where the heat of the locality requires it. Those plants, however, which are in bud must not be spaded at the roots, except where the soil is particularly rich. The seed-plots, too, must be well cleared with the hoe, the barley-harvest got in, and the threshing-floor prepared for the harvest with chalk, as Cato [De Re Rust. 129. Cato, however, does not mention chalk, but Virgil (Georg. i. 178) does. Poinsinet thinks that this is a “lapsus memoriæ” in Pliny, but Fée suggests that there may have been an omission by the copyists.] tells us, slackened with amurca of olives; Virgil [See the last Note. He recommends that it should be turned up with the hand, rammed down with “tenacious chalk,” and levelled with a large roller.] makes mention of a method still more laborious even. In general, however, it is considered sufficient to make it perfectly level, and then to cover it with a solution of cow-dung [Both cow-dung and marc of olives are still employed in some parts of France, in preparing the threshing floor.] and water; this being thought sufficient to prevent the dust from rising.

Chap. 72. (30.)—The Harvest.

The mode of getting in the harvest varies considerably. In the vast domains of the provinces of Gaul a large hollow frame, [Palladius gives a long description of this contrivance, which seems to have been pushed forward by the ox; the teeth, which were sharp at the edge and fine at the point, catching the ears and tearing them off. But, as Fée says, the use of it must have been very disadvantageous, in consequence of the unequal height of the stalks. The straw, too, was sacrificed by the employment of it.] armed with teeth and supported on two wheels, is driven through the standing corn, the beasts being yoked [In contrarium juncto.] behind it; the result being, that the ears are torn off and fall within the frame. In other countries the stalks are cut with the sickle in the middle, and the ears are separated by the aid of paddle-forks. [“Merges.” Supposed to be the same as the “batillum” of Varro. Its form is unknown, and, indeed, the manner in which it was used. It is not improbable that it was a fork, sharp at the edge, and similar to an open pair of scissars, with which the heads of corn were driven off, as it were; this, however, is only a mere conjecture. By the use of “atque,” it would almost appear that the “merges” was employed after the sickle had been used; but it is more probable that he refers to two different methods of gathering the ears of corn.] In some places, again, the corn is torn up by the roots; and it is asserted by those who adopt this plan, that it is as good as a light turning up for the ground, whereas, in reality, they deprive it of its juices. [The roots and the stubble are, in reality, as good as a manure to the land.] There are differences in other respects also: in places where they thatch their houses with straw, they keep the longest haulms for that purpose; and where hay is scarce, they employ the straw for litter. The straw of panic is never used for thatching, and that of millet is mostly burnt; barley-straw, however, is always preserved, as being the most agreeable of all as a food for oxen. In the Gallic provinces panic and millet are gathered, ear by ear, with the aid of a comb carried in the hand.

In some places the corn is beaten out by machines [Called “tribulum;” a threshing-machine moved by oxen. Varro, De Re Rust. i. 52, gives a description of it. Fée says that it is still used in some parts of Europe.] upon the threshing-floor, in others by the feet of mares, and in others with flails. The later wheat is cut, the more prolific [On the contrary, Fée says, the risk is greater from the depredations of birds, and the chance of the grain falling out in cutting, and gathering in. Spelt and rye may be left much longer than wheat or oats.] it is; but if it is got in early, the grain is finer and stronger. The best rule is to cut it before the grain hardens, and just as it is changing colour: [Columella, B. ii. c. i., gives the same advice.] though the oracles on husbandry say that it is better to begin the harvest two days too soon than two days too late. Winter and other wheat must be treated exactly the same way both on the threshing-floor and in the granary. Spelt, as it is difficult to be threshed, should be stored with the chaff on, being only disengaged of the straw and the beard.

Many countries make use of chaff [“Palea” seems here to mean “chaff;” though Fée understands it as meaning straw.] for hay; the smoother and thinner it is, and the more nearly resembling dust, the better; hence it is that the chaff [The chaff of millet, and not the straw, must evidently be intended here, for he says above that the straw—“culmus”—of millet is generally burnt.] of millet is considered the best, that of barley being the next best, and that of wheat the worst of all, except for beasts that are hard worked. In stony places they break the haulms, when dry, with staves, for the cattle to lie upon: if there is a deficiency of chaff, the straw as well is ground for food. The following is the method employed in preparing it: it is cut early and sprinkled with bay salt, [Muria dura.] after which it is dried and rolled up in trusses, and given to the oxen as wanted, instead of hay. Some persons set fire to the stubble in the fields, a plan that has been greatly extolled by Virgil: [Georg. i. 84, et seq. Fée says that Virgil has good reason for his commendations, as it is a most excellent plan.] the chief merit of it is that the seed of the weeds is effectually destroyed. The diversity of the methods employed in harvesting mainly depends upon the extent of the crops and the price of labour.

Chap. 73.—The Methods of Storing Corn.

Connected with this branch of our subject is the method of storing corn. Some persons recommend that granaries should be built for the purpose at considerable expense, the walls being made of brick, and not less than three [Palladius, i. 19, says two feet.] feet thick; the corn, they say, should be let in from above, the air being carefully excluded, and no windows allowed. Others, again, say that the granary should have an aspect in no direction but the north-east or north, and that the walls should be built without lime, that substance being extremely injurious [On account of the damp. Columella, however, recommends a mixture of sand, lime, and marc of olives for the floor; B. i. c. 6.] to corn; as to what we find recommended in reference to amurca of olives, we have already mentioned it on a former [In B. xv. c. 8.] occasion. In some places they build their granaries of wood, and upon pillars, [This is still done in the Valais, and has the great merit of preserving the corn from house and field-mice.] thinking it the best plan to leave access for the air on every side, and from below even. Some persons think, however, that the grain diminishes in bulk if laid on a floor above the level of the ground, and that it is liable to ferment beneath a roof of tiles. Many persons say, too, that the grain should never be stirred up to air [“Ventilare.” On the contrary, the weevil penetrates deep, and does not keep near the surface.] it, as the weevil is never known to penetrate beyond four fingers in depth; consequently, beyond that depth there is no danger. According to Columella, [De Re Rust. ii. 21.] the west wind is beneficial to grain, a thing that surprises me, as that wind is generally a very parching [See B. ii. c. 48.] one. Some persons recommend that, before housing the corn, a bramble-frog should be hung up by one of the hind legs at the threshold of the granary. To me it appears that the most important precaution of all is to house the grain at the proper time; for if it is unripe when cut, and not sufficiently firm, or if it is got in in a heated state, it follows of necessity that noxious insects will breed in it.

There are several causes which contribute to the preservation of grain; the outer [Those keep the best, Fée says, which have a farinaceous perisperm. Millet has but one coat.] coats in some kinds are more numerous, as in millet, for instance; the juices are of an oleaginous nature, [This, in reality, would tend to make them turn rancid all the sooner.] and so supply ample moisture, as in sesame, for example; while in other kinds, again, they are naturally bitter, [And so repel the attacks of insects.] as in the lupine and the chicheling vetch. It is in wheat more particularly that insects breed, as it is apt to heat from the density of its juices, and the grain is covered with a thick bran. In barley the chaff is thinner, and the same is the case with all the leguminous seeds: it is for this reason that they do not ordinarily breed insects. The bean, however, is covered with a coat of a thicker substance; and hence it is that it ferments. Some persons sprinkle wheat, in order to make it keep the longer, with amurca [This would not only spoil the flavour, but absolutely injure the corn as well.] of olives, a quadrantal to a thousand modii: others, again, with powdered Chalcidian or Carian chalk, or with worm-wood. [This also, if practised to any extent, would infallibly spoil the grain.] There is a certain earth found at Olynthus, and at Cerinthus, in Eubœa, which prevents grain from spoiling. If garnered in the ear, grain is hardly ever found to suffer any injury.

The best plan, however, of preserving grain, is to lay it up in trenches, called “siri,” as they do in Cappadocia, Thracia, Spain, and at * * * in Africa. Particular care is taken to dig these trenches in a dry soil, and a layer of chaff is then placed at the bottom; the grain, too, is always stored in the ear. In this case, if no air is allowed to penetrate to the corn, we may rest assured that no noxious insects will ever breed in it. Varro [De Re Rust. i. 57.] says, that wheat, if thus stored, will keep as long as fifty years, and millet a hundred; and he assures us that beans and other leguminous grain, if put away in oil jars with a covering of ashes, will keep for a great length of time. He makes a statement, also, to the effect that some beans were preserved in a cavern in Ambracia from the time of King Pyrrhus until the Piratical War of Pompeius Magnus, a period of about two hundred and twenty years.

The chick-pea is the only grain in which no insect will breed while in the granary. Some persons place upon the heaps of the leguminous grains pitchers full of vinegar and coated with pitch, a stratum of ashes being laid beneath; and they fancy that if this is done, no injury will happen. Some, again, store them in vessels which have held salted provisions, with a coating of plaster on the top, while other persons are in the habit of sprinkling lentils with vinegar scented with laser, [See B. xix. c.: also Columella, De Re Rust. B. ii. c. 10.] and, when dry, giving them a covering of oil. But the most effectual method of all is to get in everything that you would preserve from injury at the time of the moon’s conjunction; and hence it is of the greatest importance to know, when getting in the harvest, whether it is for garnering or whether for immediate sale. If cut during the increase of the moon, grain will increase in size.

Chap. 74. (31.)—The Vintage, and the Works of Autumn.

In accordance with the ordinary divisions of the year, we now come to autumn, a period which extends from the setting of the Lyre to the autumnal equinox, and from that to the setting of the Vergiliæ and the beginning of winter. In these intervals, the more important periods are marked by the rising of the Horse to the people of Attica, in the evening of the day before [Twelfth of August.] the ides of August; upon which day also the Dolphin sets in Egypt, and, according to Cæsar, in Italy. On the eleventh [Twenty-second of August.] before the calends of September, the star called the Vintager begins to rise in the morning, according to Cæsar’s reckoning, and to the people of Assyria: it announces the ripening of the vintage, a sure sign of which is the change of colour in the grape. On the fifth [Twenty-eighth of August.] before the calends of September, the Arrow sets in Assyria, and the Etesian winds cease to blow: on the nones [Fifth of September.] of September, the Vintager rises in Egypt, and in the morning of that day, Arcturus rises to the people of Attica: on the same morning, too, the Arrow sets. In the fifth before [Ninth of September.] the ides of September, according to Cæsar, the She-Goat rises in the evening; and one half of Arcturus becomes visible on the day before [Twelfth of September.] the ides of September, being portentous [See the Rudens of Plautus, Prol. l. 69.] of boisterous weather for five days, both by land and sea.

The theory relative to the effects produced by Arcturus, is stated in the following terms: if showers prevail, it is said, at the setting of the Dolphin, they will not cease so long as Arcturus is visible. The departure of the swallows may be looked upon as the sign of the rising of Arcturus; for if overtaken by it, they are sure to perish.

On the sixteenth day before [Sixteenth of September.] the calends of October, the Ear of Corn, which Virgo holds, rises to the people of Egypt in the morning, and by this day the Etesian winds have quite ceased to blow. According to Cæsar, this constellation rises on the fourteenth [Eighteenth of September.] before the calends, and it affords its prognostics to the Assyrians on the thirteenth. On the eleventh before [Twenty-first of September.] the calends of October, the point of junction [Commissura.] in Pisces disappears, and upon the eighth [Twenty-fourth of September.] is the autumnal equinox. It is a remarkable fact, and rarely the case, that Philippus, Callippus, Dositheus, Parmeniscus, Conon, [Mentioned by Virgil, Eccl. iii. l. 38, and by Propertius, Eleg. iv. 1.] Criton, Democritus, and Eudoxus, all agree that the She-Goat rises in the morning of the fourth before [Twenty-eighth of September.] the calends of October, and on the third [Twenty-ninth of September.] the Kids. On the sixth day before [Second of October.] the nones of October, the Crown rises in the morning to the people of Attica, and upon the morning of the fifth, [Third of October.] the Charioteer sets. On the fourth before [Fourth of October.] the nones of October, the Crown, according to Cæsar’s reckoning, begins to rise, and on the evening of the day after is the setting of the constellation of the Kids. On the eighth before [Eighth of October.] the ides of October, according to Cæsar, the bright star rises that shines in the Crown, and on the evening of the sixth before [Tenth of October.] the ides the Vergiliæ, rise. Upon the ides [Fifteenth of October.] of October, the Crown has wholly risen. On the seventeenth before [Sixteenth of October.] the calends of November, the Suculæ rise in the evening, and on the day before the calends, according to Cæsar’s reckoning, Arcturus sets, and the Suculæ [Or Hyades, see c..] rise with the sun. In the evening of the fourth day before [Second of November.] the nones of November, Arcturus sets. On the fifth before [Ninth of November.] the ides of November, Orion’s Sword begins to set; and on the third [Eleventh of November.] before the ides the Vergiliæ set.

In this interval of time, the rural operations consist in sowing rape and turnips, upon the days which have been mentioned on a previous occasion. [In c. 35 of this Book.] The people in the country are of opinion, that it is not a good plan to sow rape after the departure of the stork; but for my own part, I am of opinion that it should be sown after the Vulcanalia, and the early kind at the same time as panic. After the setting of the Lyre, vetches should be sown, kidney-beans and hay-grass: it is generally recommended that this should be done while the moon is in conjunction. This, too, is the proper time for gathering in the leaves: it is fair work for one woodman, to fill four baskets [“Frondarias fiscinas.” These must have been baskets of a very large size. The leaves were used for fodder.] in the day. If the leaves are gathered while the moon is on the wane, they will not decay; they ought not to be dry, however, when gathered.

The ancients were of opinion, that the vintage is never ripe before the equinox; but at the present day I find that it is gathered in before that period; it will be as well, therefore, to give the signs and indications by which the proper moment may be exactly ascertained. The rules for getting in the vintage are to the following effect: Never gather the grape in a heated state, [This, Fée says, is diametrically opposite to the modern practice.] or in other words, when the weather is dry, and before the rains have fallen; nor ought it to be gathered when covered with dew,—or in other words, when dews have fallen during the night,—nor yet before the dews have been dispelled by the sun. Commence the vintage when the bearing-shoots begin to recline upon the stem, or when, after a grape is removed from the bunch, the space left empty is not filled up; this being a sure proof that the berry has ceased to increase in size. It is of the greatest consequence to the grape, that it should be gathered while the moon is on the increase. Each pressing should fill twenty culei, [The “culeus,” it is supposed, was of the same measure of capacity as the “dolium,” and held twenty amphoræ. The “pressura,” or “pressing,” was probably the utmost quantity that the pressing vat would hold at one time.] that being the fair proportion. To fill twenty culei and vats [“Lacus.”] from twenty jugera of vineyard, a single press will be enough. In pressing the grape, some persons use a single press-board, but it is a better plan to employ two, however large the single ones may be. It is the length of them that is of the greatest consequence, and not the thickness: if wide, however, they press the fruit all the better. The ancients used to screw down the press-boards with ropes and leather thongs, worked by levers. Within the last hundred years the Greek press has been invented, with thick spiral grooves running down the [“Mali rugis per cocleas bullantibus.” The whole of this passage is full of difficulties.] stem. To this stem there are spokes attached, which project like the rays of a star, and by means of which the stem is made to lift a box filled with stones—a method that is very highly approved of. It is only within the last two-and-twenty years, that a plan has been discovered of employing smaller press-boards, and a less unwieldy press: to effect this, the height has been reduced, and the stem of the screw placed in the middle, the whole pressure being concentrated upon broad planks [“Tympana:” literally, “drums.”] placed over the grapes, which are covered also with heavy weights above.

This is the proper time for gathering fruit; the best moment for doing so is when it has begun to fall through ripeness, and not from the effects of the weather. This is the season, too, for extracting the lees of wine, and for boiling defrutum: [Grape juice boiled down to one half; see B. xiv. c. 9.] this last must be done on a night when there is no moon, or if it is a full moon, in the day-time. At other times of the year, it must be done either before the moon has risen, or after it has set. The grapes employed for this purpose should never be gathered from a young vine, nor yet from a tree that is grown in a marshy spot, nor should any grapes be used but those that are perfectly ripe: the liquor, too, should never be skimmed with anything but a leaf, [Virgil mentions this in the Georgics, B. i. 295. Of course, it is nothing but an absurd superstition.] for if the vessel should happen to be touched with wood, the liquor, it is generally thought, will have a burnt and smoky flavour.

The proper time for the vintage is between the equinox and the setting of the Vergiliæ, a period of forty-four days. It is a saying among the growers, that to pitch wine-vessels after that day, in consequence of the coldness of the weather, is only so much time lost. Still, however, I have seen, before now persons getting in the vintage on the calends of January [First of January.] even, in consequence of the want of wine-vessels, and putting the must into receivers, [Piscinis.] or else pouring the old wine out of its vessels, to make room for new liquor of a very doubtful quality. This, however, happens not so often in consequence of an over-abundant crop, as through carelessness, or else the avarice which leads people to wait for a rise in prices. The method that is adopted by the most economical managers, is to use the produce supplied by each year, [I. e. before getting in the next year’s crop. Of course, he alludes only to wines of an inferior class, used for domestic consumption.] and this, too, is found in the end the most lucrative mode of proceeding. As for the other details relative to wines, they have been discussed at sufficient length already; [In B. xiv.] and it has been stated on a previous occasion, [In B. xv. c. 3.] that as soon as the vintage is got in, the olives should at once be gathered, with other particulars relative to the olive after the setting of the Vergiliæ.

Chap. 75. (32.)—The Revolutions of the Moon.

I shall now proceed to add some necessary information relative to the moon, the winds, and certain signs and prognostics, in order that I may complete the observations I have to make with reference to the sidereal system. Virgil [Georg. i. 276.] has even gone so far, in imitation of Democritus, as to assign certain operations to certain days [In contradistinction to the two periods of full moon, and change of the moon, the only epochs in reference to it noticed by Pliny.] of the moon; but my sole object shall be, as, indeed, it has been throughout this work, to consult that utility which is based upon a knowledge and appreciation of general principles.

All vegetable productions are cut, gathered, and housed to more advantage while the moon is on the wane than while it is on the increase. Manure must never be touched except when the moon is on the wane; and land must be manured more particularly while the moon is in conjunction, or else at the first quarter. Take care to geld your boars, bulls, rams, and kids, while the moon is on the wane. Put eggs under the hen at a new moon. Make your ditches in the night-time, when the moon is at full. Cover up the roots of trees, while the moon is at full. Where the soil is humid, put in seed at the moon’s conjunction, and during the four days about that period. It is generally recommended, too, to give an airing to corn and the leguminous grains, and to garner them, towards the end of the moon; to make seed-plots when the moon is above the horizon; and to tread out the grape, to fell timber, and to do many other things that have been mentioned in their respective places, when the moon is below it.

The observation of the moon, in general, as already observed in the Second Book, [In Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 11.] is not so very easy, but what I am about here to state even rustics will be able to comprehend: so long as the moon is seen in the west, and during the earlier hours of the night, she will be on the increase, and one half of her disk will be perceived; but when the moon is seen to rise at sunset and opposite to the sun, so that they are both perceptible at the same moment, she will be at full. Again, as often as the moon rises in the east, and does not give her light in the earlier hours of the night, but shows herself during a portion of the day, she will be on the wane, and one half of her only will again be perceptible: when the moon has ceased to be visible, she is in conjunction, a period known to us as “interlunium.” [Or “between moons.” The “change of the moon,” as we call it.] During the conjunction, the moon will be above the horizon the same time as the sun, for the whole of the first day; on the second, she will advance upon the night ten-twelfths of an hour and one-fourth of a twelfth; [¼ minutes.] on the third day, the same as on the second, and * * * so on in succession up to the fifteenth day, the same proportional parts of an hour being added each day. On the fifteenth day she will be above the horizon all night, and below it all day. On the sixteenth, she will remain below the horizon ten-twelfths of an hour, and one-fourth of a twelfth, at the first hour of the night, and so on in the same proportion day after day, up to the period of her conjunction; and thus, the same time which, by remaining under the horizon, she withdraws from the first part of the night, she will add to the end of the night by remaining above the horizon. Her revolutions, too, will occupy thirty days one month, and twenty-nine the next, and so on alternately. Such is the theory of the revolutions of the moon.

Chap. 76. (33.)—The Theory of the Winds.

The theory of the winds [Many of his statements are drawn from Aristotle’s Treatise, “De Mundo.”] is of a somewhat more intricate nature. After observing the quarter in which the sun rises on any given day, at the sixth [Our mid-day.] hour of the day take your position in such a manner as to have the point of the sun’s rising on your left; you will then have the south directly facing you, and the north at your back: a line drawn through a field in this direction [From due north to due south.] is called the “cardinal” [Cardo.] line. The observer must then turn round, so as to look upon his shadow, for it will be behind him. Having thus changed his position, so as to bring the point of the sun’s rising on that day to the right, and that of his setting to the left, it will be the sixth hour of the day, at the moment when the shadow straight before him is the shortest. Through the middle of this shadow, taken lengthwise, a furrow must be traced in the ground with a hoe, or else a line drawn with ashes, some twenty feet in length, say; in the middle of this line, or, in other words, at the tenth foot in it, a small circle must then be described: to this circle we may give the name of the “umbilicus,” or “navel.” That point in the line which lies on the side of the head of the shadow will be the point from which the north wind blows. You who are engaged in pruning trees, be it your care that the incisions made in the wood do not face this point; nor should the vine-trees [“Arbusta.” The trees on which the vines were trained.] or the vines have this aspect, except in the climates of Africa, [I. e. the north-west of Africa; the Roman province so called.] Cyrenæ, or Egypt. When the wind blows, too, from this point, you must never plough, nor, in fact, attempt any other of the operations of which we shall have to make mention. [In the next Chapter.]

That part of the line which lies between the umbilicus and the feet of the shadow will look towards the south, and indicate the point from which the south wind [Ventus Auster.] blows, to which, as already mentioned, [In B. ii. c. 46.] the Greeks have given the name of Notus. When the wind comes from this quarter, you, husbandman, must never fell wood or touch the vine. In Italy this wind is either humid or else of a burning heat, and in Africa it is accompanied with intense heat [Incendia.] and fine clear weather. In Italy the bearing branches should be trained to face this quarter, but the incisions made in the trees or vines when pruned must never face it. Let those be on their guard against this wind upon the four [See B. xvii. c. 2.] days at the rising of the Vergiliæ, who are engaged in planting the olive, as well as those who are employed in the operations of grafting or inoculating.

It will be as well, too, here to give some advice, in reference to the climate of Italy, as to certain precautions to be observed at certain hours of the day. You, woodman, must never lop the branches in the middle of the day; and you, shepherd, when you see midday approaching in summer, and the shadow gradually decreasing, drive your flocks from out of the sun into some well-shaded spot. When you lead the flocks to pasture in summer, let them face the west before midday, [See B. viii. c..] and after that time, the east: if this precaution is not adopted, calamitous results will ensue; the same, too, if the flocks are led in winter or spring to pastures covered with dew. Nor must you let them feed with their faces to the north, as already mentioned; [He seems to be in error here, as he has nowhere made mention of this.] for the wind will either close their eyes or else make them bleared, and they will die of looseness. If you wish to have females, [Aristotle, on the other hand, and Columella, B. vii. c. 3, say “males.” See also B. viii. c. 72, where males are mentioned in connection with the north-wind. Also the in this Book.] you should let the dams have their faces towards the north while being covered.