The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-11-09
DEADLY SAND STORMS.
One OF the Dangers of Travelling Acrsss
Deserts nnd Steppes.

One OF the Dangers OF travelling hcFses
Deserts and stcppes.
No hot winds here. anyhow, to
drink up your very life at one gust,
and leave you limp as a wet rag"
said l, as we sat on deck in the dreamy
Mediterranean twilight. ~ got caught
by them once in Egypt, and passing
Arab howled after me, None but a pig
and Christian can face the khan,sin'
(hot wind). ~And / answered, so
see, my friend, for yom and are the
only living things abroadv p"
We'll, I'd sooner face that than such
a sand storm as we had once in Ari-
zona," said a gaunt wiry. keen-eyed
man beside me, who looked like an
old soldier. 'All in one moment the
whole sky seemed to rush down upon
us as If it were big pepper-box with
a lid off, and instantly all was dark as
night, and felt as If forty thousand
ants were eating me up at once. You
should have seen how the beasts
whislSed round to get their backs TO it,
and ducked their heads down! And
how the men shut their eyes and pulled
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. When it cleared off we all
looked as if we'd been bathing in
brown sugar, and you might have
raked match on any part of my skin,
and it would have lit right away. "
"Youneed not go to Arizona forthat,"
cried his English neighbor You can
see the same thing on the outskirts of
Moscow any summer day you like. The
moment the wind rises all your sur
roundings are clean blotted out, and
the whole air is Il whirl of hot prickly
dust, making you smart and tingle from
head to foot. Passing wagons loom
dimly through the driving storm; ladies
hold down their wells with the grasp of
desperation; men shut their eyes and
plunge blindly on, like mad bulls; and
every time you draw your breath you
feel as if you were taking snuff at the
rate of half bushel IA second"
Most Russian towns are like that"
said l. "but the worst sand-storm |
ever saw was in the Kara-Koom (Black
Sand) Desert, between the Ural noun
tains and the Syr-Daria (JaXartes),
when poor McGahan and | were fol-
lowing the Russian army in its march
upon Khiva. 1t was just about sunset
on the third day, and | was half across
the desert, when "a detachment of
mounted Cossacks appeared in the dis
tance, coming slowly from the north
ward They had got near enough to be
plainly seen, when suddenly one OF the
biggest of the three camels that drew
my Tartar wagon stopped short and be-
gan to snuff the air uneasily. Its un-
easiness seemed shared by my Kirghiz
driver, who, with his lean, woltish
face fairly quivering with excitement.
goaded the beasts to their full speed
with yells and whip cracks up low
ridge in front of us.
1--WE had hardly reached the top
when | saw the advancing Cossacks
leap from their horses and fling them-
selves on the ground, with the grayish-
white dust of which their grayish-
white dresses mingled so completely
that it seemed as if the earth had
swallowed them. just then my camels
fell fiat to the earth, and the Kirghiz,
screaming 'Tebbadr (sand STORMY
threw himself beside them. l had
Just time to notice that the horizon had
suddenly grown blurred and dim, as if
seen through wet glass. when my Tar
tar servant dragged me down beside
him into the bottom of the wagon, and
pulled a heavy shawl tightly over us
both. The next moment came rush
and roar, rocking the huge wagon
like toy, the air grew thick and
close, as if we were in an overheated
room, and the sIsirr of the sand against
the tilt was like the chipping of thou
sand grasshoppers.
But just as we were almost stiied,
the noise began to abate, and we VEN
tured to peep forth. The passing of
the storm had left the air bitterly cold,
and in the dim moonlight we saw the
whole plain lashed into huge ridges,
like stormy sea- My wagons and
camels were more than half buried,
and the Kirghiz was gone altogether,
and when he started up out of the sand,
in his long white robe, it was just like
corpse rising from the grave. But
for that high ground, which kept the
sand from burying us, we should all
have been dead men. AS for the Cos
sacks, they got up, shook themselves,
and want ON as il nothing had ham