Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-08-15
IN A SANDSTONE.
CARNIVAL 81 the wild Elements Of shs
Soudan.


Dooeola Cor London News
Dongoia was visited the other day by q sand,
storm-to my idea the most dreadful Of storms
was there ever snch ono beforer Mulions.
suppose. but never experienced one so bad 1
must really use the penay-a-liner's very con.
Senient expression, at battles all description"
ana Tor that reason shall describe IT, Our re-
specaed friend. the penny-a-liner. I observe,
aiter stating that q thing bal he'd description,
invariably tries 20 describe IT. Why, then,
should not I. Midday, everything sweitering
anu seeming In the sun that happens TO be ex-
posed 10 IL everybody NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
paoohns-with respiration, who happens %
would burst-f am afraid 40 saw how nigh the
mercury has risen-in fact the perspIration
small figures. Eoct and sand main The eye hx,
their glare. A black dense. mud -rolored .cloud
suddenly appears on the horizon at the south
al INST a sreek, Then growing LANCER and larger
rolling rapidly towards las. now in the dtstance'
DOW nearer and nearer. Down go tents and mn
la the air go straw has aud sheds, while the
palm branches wave and nod ike The plumes
OF q hearse caught a. gale. or Of the helmet 81
q knight at a mad gslop.
On, on, IL rolls, that erimy Iast-r1dtns c,oud
Now can not see twenty yards ahead OF me.
The landscape is suddenly enveloped in a black
away go my half-answered home letters "a no
shall catch them? $50: run af ter them; Quick.
y, quickly, boy; 1 am enveloped In sand.
tie Of seven days allowance Of lime uice-it
totters and caps'Ees. Down comes the SPIDERS
run about aad eat the scorpions centipeaes and
white ants. IN comes a dock Of little crimson
beaded bats and tumble exhausted. Z
I'm, and there Ii no fear OF = shower
Ct broken glass, such rs have seen
Books, sketches, writing paper, manuscript,
linen, lie scattered on the floor. I was going 20
ssy-no. the earih-we have no floors here in
Ethiopia-burted In m DInent I'm black dust;
and over goes my only bottle of cognao, kept
for medical purposes. Luckily the cork was in.
But the only bottle OF whisky an Irish friend
had been at he had left the cork out: "a was
light, not much balance len, and over IL went.
Al aroma OF mountain dew pervades the room.
bssailan! IL was 10 have accompanied me across
the desert TO Wady Halfa, where some say
Camhyses lost his army. though Others near
put my head out Of my window, was eoine
70 writer me..n square hole In OF the
iour mud walls forming what 10 called by cour-
tesy mousse. WAS blinded rs quickly Is any
inhabitant or the cities OF the plain was by the
hand OF the angel Ny eyes were Instantly
nlled with sand, every moiecue OF which was a
burning spark and every particle a sciutilla-
ton. IL wearied me 10 find my way 10 NV
washing stand; mean my pile Of old wooden
basin-an cd biscuit tin, with a clsssicalIy-
shaped red amphors In t. Finding Il al length
and put on a pair OF huge green gogeies-ai1
glass; these are the only Kind that keep out tbs
sand.
Thus armed, looked forth into the moving
mountain OF sand. A burning blast, like unto
the breath of nery furnace, scorches my face
unto the heavens The sun wa. biood-red Jail
OF fire, floating "all In a hot and copper sky
while along the horizon hung lurid lieh t such
as one sees on the ocean before a storm. Ia the
distance trees huts and tents were invisible:
put near one could just make out the winding.
lead-colored Nile, lasbed into pillows. A dense
cloud which enveioped ali, seemed raining
nre. The atmosphere ~ n seething, boiling,
sputtering. And now waltxing, wnirling along
the banks come the devils" tshay tamsl, rs the
Arabs call them, the sand spouts-aSrial giants
each INDUCING in pas seul their huge, fan.
tistic figures rearing their heads from earth 20
Arabian Night" let out of the casxet I'm which
King Solomon had sealed him up, and rising a
q tall column OF smoke. How grim and grue.
some are they! No doubt the fancifui ghouia,
efreets, and genii OF Arab folklore drew theif
origin from such as these.
And q destructive element are these rolling
grafton, having grinding, ughing action on
rocks and stone-as they ride the whirwjnd
aecelerating destruction In a country replete
where all changes are not of life. but OF az.
struction-where the characteristics OF the
scenery around are heaps of rocks breaking
Into Fragments. And these gusts Of sand pene.
trate eNerywhere, into cefts and assures Of
stones, eating into and sappng their iounda-
lifting and rolling rock over rock. ''ns'H'
There Is q weird and ghastly dance all
around. In . dull and lurid glare. Now i ann
air is stining, my mouth Is parched, speech IL
impossible Without wetting the lips the tongue
Is SWOLLEN. never before properly under.
which "could be felt" Half an hour-the sand
tornado has swept by. can hear the rush OF
scared horses. mules, donkeys and cattle, a.
tremendous CULTURAL roar and grunting OF
cameis, the howling Of dogs, and the shrili
screeching OF vutures and kites flying before
the gale. All nature groena. HALF an hour.
the Dongola carnival OF the wild elements a
the ''Soudan' Ii over.