The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-10-24
THE DREADED sIMooM.
Its Generation and the Terrible Incidents
of It's Career.

The DREADED SlMOOM. sd
Its Generation and the Terrible Incidents
of It's Career.
The most remarkable of the hot winds
is the Simeon (sambuli, samun, 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 expan-
sion and tightening of the latter, resulting
in the formation of small cyclonic dis
turbances. 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 turn undergoes the same pro-
cess, until at last there is powerful cur
rent drawn into the vortex, frequently
bringing with it quantities of loose sand,
and the cyclone then becomes visible
huge columns of sand whirling round
and moving forward at the same
time. The air, already very dry
before the simoOm 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 the cloud
advances. sometimes slowly, sometimes
rapidly, the tall pillars being visible
long way off darkening the atmosphere,
and bringing with them great destruction.
In the whirl the 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
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, travel
ers and even armies. The simoom is
supposed to have annihilated the armies
of Sennacherib and of Cambyses.
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 simoom, signifying a poisonous
wind; but it is no more poisonous than
any other wind its fatal qualities being
simply the excessive dryness and the
quantity of fine sand with which it is
loaded. The temperature of the air has
been known to rise to 1873 degs., and its
desiccating effect is seen in dried up
mouths and nostrils, in skin cracking,
intense thirst, painful and difficult breath
ing and inability to sleep. The time oc-
cupied in passing given spot varies be-
tween few minutes and twenty or
twenty-four hours, the blast leaving be-
hind it unmistakable evidence of the path
it has travelled The hot parching air of
the simoom, almost as soon as the breath
is out of the body and before decomposi-
ton has time to set in, causes the flesh
to lose all its irmness and consistency, so
that it drops or may be taken off the
bones easily.
A party of officers sleeping on the roof
of Gen. Jacobs house at Jacobabad thus
recount their experience of the simoom:
''They were awakened by sensation of
suffocation and an exceedingly hot, OPP
pressive feeling in the air, while at the
same time powerful smell of sulphur
pervaded the atmosphere. On the fol-
lowing morning a number of trees in
the garden were found to be withered in
a remarkable manner. 1t was as if a
breadth had passed through the garden
in straight line, smuggling and destroy
ing every green thing in its course. En-
tering on one side and passing out on the
other, its path was as defined as the
course Of river"
Palgrave was overtaken by one of
these scourges in northern Arabia. After
some preliminary remarks on the adj
vance of the simeon, he proceeds: $50
dark was the atmosphere and so burning
the heat that it seemed that hell 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 pros
trate, one and all within the tent, with
our heads well wrapped up, almost suf-
located, indeed, but safe, while our
camels lay without like dead, their long
necks stretched out on the sand, await
ing the passing of the gale.
"We remained thus for ten minutes,
during which still heat, like that of a
red hot iron slowly passing over us, was
alone to be felt. Then the tent walls
began again to flap in the returning
gusts and announced that the worst of
the simoom had gone by. My comrades
appeared more like corpses than living
men, and So suppose, did I. How
ever, could not forbear, in spite of
warnings, to step out and look at the
camels; they were still lying fiat, as
though they had been dead, and the air
was yet darkish, but before long it
frightened up to its usual dazzling clear
ness. During the whole time the simoom
lasted the atmosphere was entirely free
from sand or dust, so that hardly know
how to account for its singular obscur-
tyn-COrnhill MAGAZINE