Connecticut western news., 1888-09-12
THE SIMOON.
A Whirlwind that Sweeps Over
 the African Desert.
Its Generation and Incidents in
 It's Terrible Career.


 winds is the simeon (sambuli, samun, shelook, ctc.), the violent whirlwiad, with or without sand, which aff,cts the deserts of Africa and southwestern Asia. Tho great heat of tho soil passing into the at mosphero causes au appreciable e1- pansion anI Tightening of the latter, resulting in the formation of small cy- clonic disturban ces. The surrounding atmosphere, in tho never -ceasin g natural struggle to maintain aa equilibrium, rushes in to fill the space vacated by tho expanded air, and in its tura undergocs the samo process, until at last there is Q powerful current drawn into tho 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 bcforo the simeon originated, now becomes still more SO from the presence of the dense cloud of dust. Away goes the storm across the desert; at first it is seen as low haze on the horizon, but quickly spreading tho cloud advances, sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly, the tall pillars being visible a long way off darkening the atmosphere, and bringing with them great destruc- tion. In tho whirl tho wind blows with the force of hurricane, hills of sand are taken up, and are either scattered or are again gathered into new hills wherever tho storm chooses to deposit them, so that the desert is dotted with frequently shifting sand ranges. Under these are buried whole caravans of traders, travellers and even armies. The simoom is supposed to have annihilated the armies of Ssnnache rib and of Cam byses.
 So terribly dry is the air in these storms u at it is fatal to vegetation, while tho density of the dust cloud makes it almost impossible for human beings to breathe. This gives rise to the idea that the wind contained deadly poison; hence the Aro";c simeon, signifying poisonous d ut it is no moro poisonous than any o.ner wind, it's fatal qualities being simply the ex- cessive dryness and the quantity of fine sand with which it is loaded. The tenn perature of tho air has been known to rise to 133 degrees, and it's desiccating effect is seen in dried-up mouths and nostrils, in skin cracking, lntenso thirst, painful and difficult breathing and inability to sleep. The time occupied in passing given spot varies between few minutes and twenty or twenty-four hours, the blast leaving behind it unmistakable evidence of the path it has travelled. Tho hot, parching air of tho simeon, al- most as soon as the breath is out of tho body and before decomposition has time to set in, causes the flesh to lose all its firmness and consistency, so that it drops or may be taken off the bones easily.
 A party of officers sleeping on tho roof of General Jacobs house at Ja- cobabad thus recount their experience of tho simoom: ''They were awakened by a sensation of suffo cation, and an ex- ceedingly hot, oppressive feeling in tho air, while at tho same time a powerful smell of sulphur pervaded the atmos- phere. On the following morning a number of trees in the garden were found to be withered in Q remarkable manner. It was as if a current of fire about twelve yards in breadth had passed through the garden in straight llne, singeing and destroying every green thing in its course. Entering on one side and passing out on the other, it's path was as defined as the course of a river."
 Palgrave was overtaken by ono of these scourges in northern Arabia. After somo preliminary remarks on the ad- vance of the simoom, ho proceeds: "So dark was the atmosphere, and so burn ing the heat, that it seemed that he'll had risen from the earth, or descended from above. But at the moment when the worst of the concentrated poison blast was coming round we were already prostrate, one and all within the tent, with our heads will wrapped up, al- most suffocated, indeed, but safe; while our camels lay without like dead, their long nccks stretched out on the sand, awaiting the passing of the gale. We remained thus for ten min utes. during which still heat likc that of rcd-hot iron slowly passing over us, was alone to be felt. Then tho tent walls began again to flap in the returning gusts, and announced that the worst of the simeon has gone by. My comrades ap- pearcd moro like corpses than living men, and so, I suppose, did I. How ever, I could not forbear, in spite of warnings, to step out and look at the camcls; they w,ro still lying flat, as though they had been dead, and the air was yet darkish, but before long it frightened up to it's usual dazzling clcarness. During the whole time that the simeon lasted, the atmosphere was entirely frco from sand or dust; so that hardly know how to account for it's