The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-11-24
THE SIMEON.
A Whirlwind that Sweeps Over
the African Desert.
Its Generation and Incidents in
Its Terrible Career.

winds IS the SIMEON (samDuil, saniuu'
shelook, etc., the violent whirlwind,
with or without sand, which affects the
deserts Of Africa and southwestern
Asia. The great heat OF
the soil passing into the at
mosphere causes an appreciate ex-
pansion and tightening of the latter,
resulting in the formation of small cy-
clonic disturban ces. The surrounding
atmosphere, in the never -ceasing natural
struggle to maintain an equilibrium,
rushes in to fill the space vacated by
the expanded air, and in its tura
undergoes the same process, until
at last there is powerful current
drawn into the vortex, frequently
bringing with it quantities of loose
sand, and the cyclone then becomes Wis.
iblc-huge columns of sand whirling
round and moving forward at the same
time. The air, already very
dry before the simeon originated,
now becomes still more so from
the presence of the dense cloud of dust,
Away goes the storm across tho desert;
at first it is seen as a low haze on the
horizon, but quickly spreading the cloud
advances, sometimes slowly, sometimes
rapidly, the tall pillars being visible
long way off darkening the atmosphere,
and bringing with them great destruc-
ton. In the whirl the wind blows with
the force of a hurricane, hills of sand
are taken up, and are either scattered
or are again gathered into new hills
wherever the storm chooses to deposit
them, so that the desert is dotted with
frequently shifting sand ranges. Under
these arc buried whole caravans of
traders, travellers and even armies. The
simoom is supposed to have annihilated
the armies of Sennache rib and of Cam
byses.
So terribly dry is the air in these
storms that it is fatal to vegetation,
while the density of the dust cloud
makes it almost impossible for human
beings to breathe. This gives rise to
the idea that the wind contained a
deadly poison; hence the Arabic simeon,
siCniiying a poisonous wind; but it is
no more poisonous than any other wind,
its fatal qualities being simply the ex-
cessive dryness and the quantity of fiae
sand with which it is loaded. The tenn
perature of the air has been
known to rise to 1873 degrees, and its
desiccating effect is seen in
dried-up mouths and nostrils, in
skin cracking, intense thirst, painful
and difficult breathing and inability t.
sleep. The time occupied in passing ,
given spot varies between few minute;
and twenty or twenty-four hours, the
blast leaving behind it unmistakabl'
evidence of the path it has travelled
The hot, parching air of the simeon, al
most as soon as the breath is out of tn,
J body and before decomposition has tim
to set in, causes the flesh to lose all it
firmness and consistency, so that j
drops or may be taken off the bone
| easily.
A party of officers sleeping on tn
roof of General jacobs house at ia
cobabad thus recount their experienc
OF the simoom: They were awakene,
by a sensation Of suff cation, and an ex
cecdingly hot. oppressive feeling in tn
air, while q. tho same time a powerfr
smell of sulphur pcrvadei the atmo:
phere. Ga the following morning
!, number of trees in the garden WEI
found to be withered il a remarkabl
Il manner. 1t was as if current OF fiji
q, about twelve yards in breadth ha
passed through the garden In straigl
4 line, singeing and destroying ever
green thing in its course. Entering q
Z one side nd passing out GA the othe
n its path was as defined as tho course
!, river"
o Palgrav, was ovcrtal;cn by one
these scourges in northern Arabia. Aft
some preliminary remarks on the Al
!" vance of the Simeon, he proceeds: "s
t. dark was the atmosphere, and SO burr
ing the heat, that it seemed that he
had risen from the earth, or descendt
from above. But at the moment VIII,