. Egypt painted and described . at often is terrible,and where hunger and thirst add their discomfort tothe many difficulties incidental to your work : the glareof light thrown upwards from the glittering sand, theirritation of the sand-flies, and above all the feelingof hopelessness of ever approximating to the subtlebeauty of your subject. Thirst, however, may oftenbe relieved by sucking a pebble, while, as I have men-tioned before, the expedient of a little charcoal or greenpaint rubbed upon the eyelids (especially the lower one)is a considerable mitigation of the glare. There is one phase
. Egypt painted and described . at often is terrible,and where hunger and thirst add their discomfort tothe many difficulties incidental to your work : the glareof light thrown upwards from the glittering sand, theirritation of the sand-flies, and above all the feelingof hopelessness of ever approximating to the subtlebeauty of your subject. Thirst, however, may oftenbe relieved by sucking a pebble, while, as I have men-tioned before, the expedient of a little charcoal or greenpaint rubbed upon the eyelids (especially the lower one)is a considerable mitigation of the glare. There is one phase of desert-life, however, which isnot only intensely disagreeable, but frequently attendedwith danger, and that is the sandstorm. Most peoplewho have visited Egypt have in Cairo, or up the Nile,had some experience of the discomforts of the khamsin ;but this can give them little or no idea of what it meansto the traveller in the desert, where no shelter isobtainable, and the full effect of the storm is felt. 208 APPROACHING STORM. The Desert and the Bedawin At first the air is still, but hot and lifeless, whilethe sky gradually assumes a dusty appearance, as, lowdown on the horizon, ominous-looking clouds appearin the south-west. The sultry air becomes moreand more stifling, producing a feeling of lassitude anddepression which is distressing ; camels and horses alsoshow signs of uneasiness, and the sheep bleat pitifullyin apprehension. Presently little puffs of wind, hot as from an oven,herald the approaching storm. As the wind gains instrength, the air is filled with a dusty fog throughwhich the sickly glare of the sun is hardly drift-sand blows like snow-wreaths across thedesert, and the eyes are blinded and the lungs filledwith the choking dust. As the storm develops, littlesplinters of rock or small pebbles are hurled throughthe air, and cut the skin like knives. The sun istotally obscured, and the ever-driving sand graduallyassumes the appearance of billows, whi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectegyptde, bookyear1902
