The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-10-13
AN ARABIAN s,mooN.
Dreadful Scorching Received by Traveller
who We're Caught In One.

%N NVNDtRN SIMOONs
Dreadful scorchine Received by Travellers
who We're Caught In Ono.
A simeon Is first seen as small haze
on the horizon, but quickly spreading
tho cloud advances. sometimes slowly,
sometimes rapidly, the tall pillars being
visible long way of, darkening the
atmosphere, and bringing with them
great destruction. In the whirl the
wind blows with the force Of . hurri.
cane, hills OF sand are taken up, and
are oither 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 are
buried whole caravans Of traders,
travellers and even armies. The simeon
is supposed to have annihilated the ar
mics of Sennacherib and OF Cambyses.
So terribly dry is the air in these
storms that 1t is fatal to vegetation,
while the density Of the dust-cloud
makes 1t almost impossible for human
beings to breathe. This gives rise to
the idea that the wind contains u deadly
poison; hence the Arabic simeon, signi-
flying q 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 fine
sand with which it is loaded. The
temperature OF the air has been known
to rise to 1873 degrees, and its dessicated
effect is seen in dried-up mouths and
nostrils, in skin cracking, intense
thirst, painful and difficult breathing,
and inability to sleep. The time occu-
pied in passing given spot varies
between u few minutes and twenty and
twenty-four hours, the blast leaving
behind 1t unmistakable evidence of the
path it has Travelled. The hot, parching
air OF the simeon, almost as soon as the
breath is out of the 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 the
roof of General Jacobs house at Jacob
abad thus recounts their experience OF
the simeon: "They were awakened
by sensation of suffocation, and an
exceedingly hot, oppressive feeling in
the mir, while at the same time pow
erful smell of sulphur pervaded the at
mosphere. On the following morning
IL number of trees in the garden were
tonnd to be withered in a remarkable
manner. 1t was as if current of fire
about twelve yards in breadth had
passed through the garden in u straight
line, singeiug 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 overtalSen by one OF
these scourges in Northern Arabia.
After some preliminary remarks on the
advance of the simeon, he proceeds:
$50 dark was the atmosphere, and Sc
burning the heat, that it seemed that
hell had risen from the earth, or de-
scended from above. But at the mo-
ment when the worst of the concen-
trated poison-blast was coming round
we were already prostrate, one and all
| within the tent, with our heads we'll
wrapped up. almost suffocated, indeed,
but safe; while our camels lay without
like dead, their long necks stretched
! cut on the sand, awaiting the passing
of the gale.
''We remained thus for ten minutes,
during which Il still heat, like that oi
a red-hot iron slowly passing over us,
was alone to be felt. Then the tent
walls began again to flap in the return.
ing gusts, and announced that the
worst of the simeon had gone by. My
comrades appeared moro like corpsec
than living men, and so, l suppose,
did /. However, could not forbear,
in spite of warnings, to step out and
look at the camels; they were still
lying flat. as though they had been
dead, and the air was still darkish,
but before long it frightened up to its
usual dazzling clearness. During the
whole time the simeon lasted the at.
mosphere was entirely free from sand
or dust; so that hardly know how to
account for it's singular obscurity. -
CornhiU Magazine.