. My Apingi kingdom : with life in the great Sahara, and sketches of the chase of the ostrich, hyena, &c. . oped it would not last long, forthese storms are very unpleasant. They did not mean astorm of rain, but that a strong wind would blow fiomthe east or northeast, and, in passing over the Great Des-ert, would raise clouds and columns of sand, so that theatmosphere would be thick with it, as if a fog had spreaditself over the coimtry. I may say I was glad to hear this. Like you, my dearyoung folks, I had heard before of these sand-storms,and that the sand would even be carried far away out
. My Apingi kingdom : with life in the great Sahara, and sketches of the chase of the ostrich, hyena, &c. . oped it would not last long, forthese storms are very unpleasant. They did not mean astorm of rain, but that a strong wind would blow fiomthe east or northeast, and, in passing over the Great Des-ert, would raise clouds and columns of sand, so that theatmosphere would be thick with it, as if a fog had spreaditself over the coimtry. I may say I was glad to hear this. Like you, my dearyoung folks, I had heard before of these sand-storms,and that the sand would even be carried far away out tosea and fall on the decks of ships. I wanted to see oneof these awful storms, which are said to be so violent inthe Great Desert that men, and sometimes caravans, areburied alive beneath the immense masses of sand. The men were not mistaken. The wind, which hadbeen blowing hghtly in an east-northeast direction, beganto increase gradually, till at last it blew a perfect sand began to fly, and the storm increased still air soon became murkv with saud, which flew to- IT BLOWS HAIW. 219. 8ANI)-8TOUM IN THE DESEKT. ward tlie sea like a tliick fog. It was a grand and splen-did sight. The liglit of the day had become quite dim,because the suns rays could hardly pierce the clouds ofsand. It continued blowing for several hours. The windwas hot; my lips became parched and my eyes sore, as,in spite of my thick veil, the sand penetrated every that I had seen a genuine sand-storm, I hoped thatthe wind would moderate. Little hillocks and moundswere formed here and there, and our wells were filled upwith the drifting sand. The sand got into my clothes through every openingin them. It iilled my hair, my nose, my ears, and evenmy mouth. It covered every thing in our camp, andcompletely spoiled our food. But we had to eat it as itwas, as there was no choice. 220 ^^ APING I KING I) OM. Toward evening the wind gradually calmed down, andby the time the sun had set belo
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