The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1889-12-28
SAND STORMS.
Peculiar Gales in Various Parts
of the World.
Experiences in Africa, Asia and
America.

Ned 'erra1eah twilight. 81 got caught
BY them once in Egypt, and passing
Arab howlcd after me, None but a pig
and Christian can face the khamsin' 4"
mot wind). "And / answered, so |
zee, my friend, for you and l are the
only living things abroadr"
swell, I'd sooner face that than such
sandstorm as we had once in Arizona"
ad gaunt, wiry. keen eyed man be-
side me, who looked like an old soldier
AL in one moment the whole sky
seemed to rush down upon US as if it
we're Big pepper box with the lid off,
md instantly all was dark as night, and
felt as If forty thousand ants were
atlng ME up at once. You should
have seen how the beasts whisked round
to get their backs to it, and ducked
their heads down. And how the men
shut their eyes, and pulcl their hats
down over their faces, and covered their
mouths with their hands. But it was
no use trying to keep the dust out; it
seemed to get inside ones very skin.
Wien it cleared off we all looked as if
we'd been bathing in brown sugar, and
you might have raked match on any
par; OF my skin, and it would have lit
rgh; away"
"lou need not go 10 Arizona for
that, cried his English neirhbor.
"lou can see the same thing on the
outskirts of Moscow any summer day
fou like. The moment the wind rises
FOUR surroundings are clean blotted out,
no the whole air is whirl of hot,
fnckly dust, making you smart and
fngle from head TO foot. Passing
Fagons loom dimly through the driving
Form; ladies hold down their wells with
pc grasp of desperation; men shut their
pes and plunge blindly on like mad
pills, and every time you draw breath
|0u feel as if you were taking snuff at
Pc rate of half a bushel a second"
"Most Russian towns are like that"
tid l; ''but the worst sands torn I
per saw was in the Kara Room BLACK
fani) Desert, between the Ural Noun
ins and the Syr- Daria (Jaxartes), when
pOr McGahan and 1 were following
e Russian army in its march upon
hiva. 1t was just about sunset on the
bird day, and l was half across the
sert, when detachment of mounted
Sssacks appeared in the distance, COM
sslowly from the northward. They
got near enough to be plainly seen,
hen suddenly the biggest of the three
|nes that drew my Tartar wagon
{'pped short and began to snuff the air
fsasily. It's uneasiness seemed shared
ny Kirghiz driver, who. with his
A. wolfish face fairly quivering with
Element, goaded the beasts to their
speed with yells and whip cracks uS
Ow ridge in front of us.
We had hardly reached the top
len saw the advancing Cossaclls lear
va their horses and fling themselves
Al
INC ground, with the grayish- white
OF which their grayish- white S
uses mingled so completely that it II
med as if the earth had swallowed
u. just then my camels fell fiat on
earth, and the Ktrghiz, screaming .,
'0oadF (sand-storm) threw himself e
ae them. had just time to notice d.
the horizon had suddenly grown tr
r'eu and dim, as if seen through wet AZ
when my Tartar servant dragged Of
aoWn beside him into the bottom of m
sason, and pulled heavy shawl fe
"! over us both. The next moment al
rush and a roar, rocking the al
wagon like a toy, the air grew BIZ
ana close, as if VIC were in an over fe
W room. and the skirr of the sand
W TIE tilt was like the chipping of de
'''and grasshoppers. 90
'~ just as We were almost stifed, SC
,'ae began to abatc, and we ven pl
peep forth. The passing of ag
WIN mad left the air bitterly cold, on
inc dim moonlight wo saw the tn
pam iashed into huge ridges, 1t