The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1894-07-22
FABLES OF DESERTS.
SOME MISTAKES CORRECTED IN THE
LIGHT OF EXPERIENCE.

Exaggerated Notions About Sandxtorp,
They Are Bad Enough, but Not So Bad
Paintcd-The Fable of tho CameI's Wat.
Reservoir.
We owe the peculiar existing ideas of Il
nature of deserts and the supposed DANCE,
connected with journey across them to til
notes Of the earlier travellers and explol
ers Of the century. Renowned traveller.
such as Cassati, Rohlfs, LEM, Nachtiga
etc., have in their various works and Lex
lures tried in vain to throw the search
light of their experience on the prevalen
ideas of these 'fables of the desert" an,
have shown, citing their own experience
Is guarantee for truth, that tho create
number of these SO called dangers of tn,
desert arc nero pictures of imagination
and nothing else.
There are still great many people ir
the world whose imagination brings be-
foro their minds eye the desert as a bound
less ocean of sand, which the winds and
storms keep in constant turmoil, and
which create the so much dreaded, so
much heard of, sandstorms, which they
tell us at times bury whole caravans of
man and beast and wares beneath it's IN
dulating, cruel sands How different ID
the reality
Each desert. whether located in Africa.
Asia or Americ. has within it's bound
aries, without doubt, stretches of sand
large enough to be compared to an ocean
of sand. Take the Sahara, for instance,
which Is correctly named the desert Of
deserts, and you find such an area situat-
ed west of Egypt, geographically known
as the Lybian desert but every desert
and the Sahara in particular, offers other
landscapes than this. Enormous plateaus
yes, even mountain chains, some Of the
peaks rising to an altitude of 5000 feet
can be found within its limits and give
far more variety to the scenery Of the des-
ert than the groups of cases which bob I'D
from the plains here and there like green
islands in an ocean.
And now to tho sandstor1ns. Is the
'samum." as it is called, really a poison
which brings destruction to man and
beastF just as we discriminate between a
wind and storm, just so tho Sahara has
sand winds and sandstorrns. Nachtigal.
the great explorer, relates that during a
visit at ''Mursuk" the air was so filled
With sand and dust that everything on the
oasis--the green in the gardens, the palms.
etc.-Was changed to dirty grayish color,
and such veil of dust covered the heay-
ems that the sun appeared as mere white
speck.
This was the result of a sand wind. The
'samum," or sandstone, makes its ap-
pearanoe in a quito different manner
About an hour, or even more, before it
reaches you heavy yellow clouds of sand
appear on the horizon. The atmosphere is
heavy and charged with electricity. A
tired feeling befalls man and beast. and
the camels become unruly The camels
are forced to lie down, their heads with
the wind. Men and women cover them
selves with their clothes, doing their best
to have their faces we'll concealed. The
'samum" generally lasts from 10 to 80
minutes and is frequently accompanied by
very heavy rainfall.
"A 'saInum" with such downpour was |
encountered by Rohlfs ON Easter Monday,
April IL, 1870 T1lo 81. was I1sJ
wind changed to a regular hurricane. |
Rohlfs had his tent, which was the largest |
Of the caravan, taken down and crawled |
the canvas awaiting the |
bride Of the desert, as the Bcdouin calls
the ''samum." The storm became flercer
and 1iercer, thick clouds Of which you
could not tell were they sand or masses Of
steam circled with terrific velocity over
the heads of the travellers. A cannonade
Of thunder vibrated the earth. Once in
awhile you heard she cracking of palm as
the storm broke it in two. Then the
storm lifted the tent like balloon, and,
to mako the confusion perfect, tho rain
came down in such volume that few
seconds sufflced to drench to the skin.
Then all of sudden, as If by magic, it
became wonderfully still, and the glorious
sun appeared again in the purest and
oluest Of others, and its powerful tropical
rays soon dried everything Without
doubt the ''samum" is ono Of the worst
plaques of the desert 1t weakens man and
BEAST, and the sand and dust which are
iriven before it force their way through the
smallest crevices and thicl1est covers and
oermeate the mouth nose and eyes, but not
IN such quantities that they cannot be got
rid of with ease. The very finest sand
wen forces its way into watches, but none
IL 1t will sufocato man or animal.
a 'samum" ever so severe might cover
whole caravan with heavy pail of dust
Ind sand, but never throw up such Noun
.ains of sand as to bury whole caravan.
This is only one Of the many fables of the
iesert These sandstorms can, 1t is true
become dangerous to travellers, but in
quite different manner. Tho stock of wa
er for caravan is generally carried in
soatskins. They are not particularly good
however, for they soon allow an
enormous quantity of their contents to
'vaporate, q result Of the extraordinary
leat sandstor1n brings with it. This
evaporation, now and then, takes such pro-
portions that whole caravan might die
Il thirst especially when the hot sand
torn has dried up all the springs and
FOOLS on the way
Another fable of the desert found in the
choolbooks everywhere is that the camel
arries water reservoir in its stomach,
nd that the Bedouins of the desert when
hey are near death from thirst kill the
amel and greedily drink tho water sup
'osed to be in its stomach. In the desert
he fable is unknown. People whose home
in the desert can bear thirst much easier
nan we can. The sons of the desert have
peculiar idea that we live in lakes and
wanps, and that we carry on a semiam-
hlblous existence, for to the Arabs the
'reat quantities of liquids we drink are as
nlgmatical as their abstinence therefrom
to us. To us two days existence in
he desert without drink is sure death.
'achtigal relates that the Tubu tribe of
he Sahara think nothing of it to march
Our 0avs without dri,,I- of xx-ator |