The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1906-06-30
WHEN THE DUNES WALK.
sa.s tsr- csperiesee 10 tse
Desert OF sahara.

U<srft f@ns'@s
To aee from sand storm In tho
midst OF a drenching rain seems an an
surd performances The Arab. however.
experienced In the ways OF Sahara.
knows that when the rain stops the
dunes are apt TO begin their most ter
rible walking" lie seeks shelter
while there Ia yet time
our worst experience OF the desert la
one OF its mad dts says the author OF
"fn the Desert" was on morning
when. luckily for ms perhaps. we were
nearing the large oasis OF Meta. near
the runlsian frontier. The happing Of
the tent and the drumming OF rain
drops upon IL awoke us. and Ahmeda.
in some excitement, hurried our depar.
ture. He explained that al long "a the
rain lasted II would Keep the sand
quiet and that this was our opportuni-
ty Accordingly. In a very short time
we had struck tent, loaded camels. sad
died ponies and were under Sy.
IL seemed 60 ia a somewhat purpose
less proceeding. The rain was and had
been heavy. The ground was saturat
I'll. There seemed no prospect OF les
drying In hurry Az Nefta was only
half days march away II seemed
unnecessary TO start In frantic haste in
the middle Of the night In "A pouring
rain. Abmeda. however. made no an-
swer TO oar protests. The other Arabs
seconded his efforts with all their en-
ergy
Morning broke wan and sickly. AS
the light grew the rain slackenei The
big warm drops became less frequent
and at last ceased. Tue dull Opaque
sky was pasty white and the air hot
and oppressive. but the wind still blew
as hard as or harder than ever
Hardly had the rain stopped when [
tasted between lips and teeth the IN
miliar. gritty texture OF sand. Hardly
had the light Increased sufficiently to
disclose TO view the drifts when az
thstr edges and cre~ts could be seeo
crawling and fickertng In the gale. Al
ready there was the drooing sound is
the air which meant that the Ounce
were walking. We saw at last the res-
son for the hurry. The rain cannot bo&f
the sand for more than the instant n
IN falling Az soon an II strikes the
earth II sinks In. One moment you may,
be streaming with water like a drown
ed rat, the next you are choking In
clouds o. sand
Tne air grew darker and darker, sa6
ths roar OF the sand m Il rushed along
the dessert made speech. except BY,
shouting. impossible. I could just dts
ttnguish our tall cameis In the gloom,
thAr ungsinly action giving thess
! something siook Of ships pitching
and tossing In a gale
Ahmeds led tho way By some riys-
tsrioos instinct to I'M totally incompre-
bensib,e. We followed az best we
might breathing sand AZ we went. oar
heads bent 20 protect our faces, N.Y.
recollection OF the next two hours In no
more definite than would BE- the recoI-
lection OF being rolled over and over
By a huge breaker. A singing and
roaring In the ears. almost total blind
feeling that I was IN the hands OF
ssements more powerful than myself
ara the vague impressions that remain.
When we at last got 10 Meta we
oouh not have been more saturated
with sand had we been buried In II
and dug UP agnin. Hair, ears, clothes
were full OF u. Our cheeks were scar
lst and sore with tho ccaseless batter
Inc. and on them had formed hard
crusts OF sand. cementcd by the wa
tor that had STRAINED from our eyes.