Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1885-08-27
A Dongola Sand Storm.

be exposed toit everybody bubbling
positively bubbllng-with perspira
tion that happens to be in the shade ;
thermometer looks as If it would burst
i am afraid to say how high the
mercury has riscn-in fact, the perspi-
ration pours so into my eyes that /
cannot sec the small figures. Rock
and .and pain the eye by their glare.
A black, dense, mud-colored cloud
suddenly appears on the horizon at
the south, first speck, then grow
ing larger and larger, rolling rapidly
toward us, now in the distance, now
nearer and nearer. Down go tents,
and up in the air go straw hnts and
sheds, while the palm branches wave
and nod like the plumes of hearse
caught in a gale, or cf the helmet of q
knight at mad gallop.
On, on it rolls, that grimy, fast-rid-
ing cloud. Now / cannot see twenty
yards ahead of me- The landscape is
suddenly enveloped in a black shroud
1t bursts upon my hovel. Away, a.
way, away go my halfanswered home
letters. Who shall catch them ? Go
run after them; quickly, quickly, boy
] am enveloped in sand Over goes
my only globe lamp-crash My bot
tie of seven days allowance OF lime
juice-it totters and capsizes. Down
come the spiders, and away bolt the
rats--whom / encourage to run about
and eat the scorpions, centipedes
and white ants. In comes flock of
little crimson-headed bats, and tumble
exhausted. In have no doors or win
dows to be blown in, and there is no
fear of a shower of broken glass, such
as 1 have seen during sirocco on the
shores Of the Leyant. Books, sketch
es, writing paper, manuscript, linen,
lie scattered on the floor, / was going
to say, no, the earth we have no
floors here in Ethiopia, buried in a
moment in black dust; and over goes
my only bottle of cognae, kept for
medical purposes.
/ put my head out OF my window,
was going to write / mean o
square hole in one of the four mud
walls forming what is called by court
esy house. / was blinded as quick
ly as any inhabitant of the cities of
the plain was by the hand of the an
gel. Ny eyes were instantly filed
with sand, every molecule of which
was burning spark, every particle a
scintillation. 1t wearied me to find
my way to my washing stand, ] mean
my pile OF old wooden cases, on which
was balanced my basin, an old biscuit
tin, with classically shaped red am
phora in it. Finding it at length /
cleanse my eyes, smarting with the
fiery dust, and put on pair of huge
green goggles, all glass; these are the
only kind that keep out the sand.
Thus armed / looked forth into the
moving mountain of sand. A burn
ing blast like unto the breath of a
fiery furnace, scorches my face, dries
up my skin, stopping every pore. |
look into the heavens. The sun was
blood-red ball of fire floating "all in
q hot and copper sky" while along
the horizon hung lurid light, such
as one sees on the ocean before O
storm. In the distance trees, huts
and tents were invisible, but near one
could just make out the winding, lead
colored Nile, lashed into billows. A
dense cloud, which enyeloped all seem.
ed raining fire, the atmosphere as if
seething, boiling, sputtering. And
now waltzing, whirling along the banks
came the devils" (shaytams), as the
Arabs call them, the sand spouts-
aerial giants-each inc ulging in pas
seul, their high, fantastic figures rear
ing their heads from earth to heaven.
One Is reminded of the din of the CAR
abian Knights" let out of the casket in
which King Solomon had sealed him
up, and rising as tall column OF
smoke. How grim and grewsome are
they No doubt the fanciful ghouls,
efreets aeniiof the Arab folklore drew
their origin from such as these. And
a destructive element are these rolling
spiral sand billows- powerful agents OF
| disintregation .haying grinding rough.
| ing action on rocks and stones AS they
ride the whirlwind, accelerating de-
| struction in a country replete with de-
| caying pedigrees of decay "a country
| where all changes are not of life, but OF
destruction-where the characteristics
of the scenery around are heaps OF
.coy-rs l>,ool,i,,or inf n froOrnnntc