Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-08-21
WHEN THE DUNES WALK.
A Sand Storm Experience In the Des.
ert of Sahara.

/
midst of a drenching rain seems an
absurd performance. The Arab, how
ever, experienced in the ways Of Saha-
ra, knows that when the rain stops
the dunes are apt to begin their most
terrible walking" He seeks shelter
while there is yet time.
Our worst experience Of the desert
in one of its mad fits, says the author
of I'm the Desert" was on a morning
when, luckily for US perhaps, We were
nearing the large oasis Of Nefta, near
the Tunisian frontier. The Tapping of
the tent and the drumming of rain
drops upon it awoke us, and Ahmeda,
In some excitement, hurried our de-
parture. He explained that so long
as the rain lasted 1t would keep the
sand quiet and that this was our op-
portunity Accordingly, In a very
short time we had struck tent. loaded
camels, saddled ponies and were un-
der way.
It seemed to us a somewhat pur-
poseless proceeding. The rain was
and had been heavy. The ground was
saturated. There seemed no prospect
Of its drying in a hurry. AS Meta
was only half days march away 1t
seemed unnecessary to start in frantic
haste in the middle Of the night In
pouring rain. Ahmeda, however,
made no answer to our protests. The
other Arabs seconded his efforts with
all their energy.
Morning broke wan and sickly. AS
the light grew the rain slackened. The
big warm drops became less frequent
and at last ceased. The dull, opaque
sky was pasty white and the air hot
and oppressive, but the wind still blew
as hard or harder than ever.
Hardly had the rain stopped when
1 tasted between Ups and teeth the
familiar, gritty texture Of sand. Hard
ly had the light increased sufficiently
to disclose to view the drifts when all
their edges and crests could be seen
crawling and fiickering in the gale.
Already there was the droning sound
in the air which meant that the dunes
were walking. We saw at last the
reason for the hurry. The rain can
not hold the sand for more than the
instant 1t is falling. AS soon as 1t
strikes the earth 1t sinks In. One
moment you may be streaming with
water like a drowning rat, the next
you are choking in clouds Of sand.
The air grew darker and darker
and the roar of the sand as 1t rushed
along the desert made speech, except
by shouting, impossible. I could just
distinguish our tall camels In the
gloom, their ungainly action giving
them something the look Of ships
pitching and tossing in a gale.
Ahmeda led the way by some mys-
terious instinct to us totally incompre-
hensible. We followed as best we
might, breathing sand as we went, our
heads bent to protect our faces. MY
recollection Of the next two hours Is
no more definite than would be the
recollection of being rolled over and
over a huge breaker. A singing and
roaring in the ears, almost total blind
ness, a sense of suffocation and the
feeling that I was in the hands of ele-
ments more powerful than myself are
the vague impressions that remain.
When we at last got to Nefta we
could not have been more saturated
with sand had we been buried I'm 1t.
Our cheeks were scarlet and sore
with the ceaseless battering, and on
them had formed hard crusts Of sand,
cemented by the water that had
streamed from our eyes