100 .Russegger\s Bemarks n the Climate of Egypt. 



lation of electricity in the air. If the Samum* be violent, it is, 

 as a wind of the deserts, really perilous for caravans, because, 

 passing over the burning sand, it becomes intensely heated, 

 to such a degree as to be almost unbearable, and also from 

 the masses of sand and dust which it transports along with 

 it, and heaps up into hills. Animals are rendered wild, and 

 throw off their burdens ; while men lose their presence of 

 mind, and, just as happens in violent snow-storms on high 

 mountains, becoming exhausted, sink under the contest with 

 the heat, the sand, and the storm. The chamsin is rarely a 

 storm of long duration, and its most violent period is soon 

 over ; but the atmosphere remains for a long time extremely 

 hot, so that in the shade the temperature reaches 40^ R. 

 (122° F.), though I myself have never seen' it above 38" R. 

 (117°. 5 F.) ; the air is filled with extremely fine sand and 

 dust, which penetrate everywhere, and against which no 

 covering, no w indow, affords protection ; breathing is ren- 

 dered difficult ; the blood flows to the head, and individuals 

 of a full habit of body, or whose nervous system is affected 

 and weakened, are in danger of dying from apoplexy. Such 

 •cases, however, are not of frequent occurrence, and are rarer 

 than is generally asserted. Chamsins generally follow op- 

 pressive heats, and the air Is ahvays unusually dry. 



Far towards the horizon, and chiefly in the south-east, 

 there appear thick black clouds, to which fire-red clouds suc- 

 ceed, and form a mass with the first, exactly like the burning 

 clouds rising from the conflagration of a large town. A 

 dingy reddish-yellow light spreads itself widely, an oppressive 

 heat is experienced, a calm prevails, a painful silence per- 

 vades the whole of nature, and men as well as animals seek 

 shelter. A dull hollow sound is heard, the clouds rolling on- 

 wards arrive, and in a moment the storm takes place ; every- 

 thing is enveloped in a sea of sand and dust, against which 

 shelter scarcely affords protection. In Egypt, these chamsins 

 generally terminate without a fall of rain, but this is not the 



'^ Samum is perhaps a Turkish corruption of tlie Arabian word Semen, 

 poison, by which word the Arabians also often designate the action of the 

 Chamsin, whence probably the frequent confounding of the two words, 

 Samnni and Chamsin, 



