MISCELLANIES. 



617 



through the desert as quickly as 

 in my power. We spent the night 

 under shelter of one of the sand- 

 vvaveS;, where the atmosphere was 

 uncommonly hot and close. 



1st April. I travelled to-day 

 twenty miles across a desert of 

 the same description as yesterday, 

 and consequently the like impe- 

 diments opposed me, which were 

 trifling, however, compared with 

 the distress suffered, not only by 

 myself and people, but even the 

 camels, from the floating parti- 

 cles of sand ; a phenomenon which 

 I am still at a loss to account for. 

 When I tirst observed it, about 

 ten a. m.. the desert seemed at 

 the distance of half a mile or less, 

 to have an elevated and flat sur- 

 face from six to twelve inches 

 higher than the summits of the 

 waves. This vapour appeared to 

 recede as we advanced, and once 

 or twice completely encircled us, 

 limiting the horizon to a very 

 confined space, and conveying a 

 most gloomy and unnatural sen- 

 sation to the mind of the beholder : 

 at the same moment we were im- 

 perceptibly covered with innume- 

 rable atoms cf small sand, which 

 getting into our eyes, mouths, 

 and nostrils, caused excessi\ e ir- 

 ritation attended with extreme 

 thirst, that was increased in no 

 small degree by the intense beat 

 of the Sim. On questioning my 

 Brahooe guide who, tliongh a 

 perfectly wild savage, had more 

 local knowledge than any other 

 person of the party, he .said that 

 this annoyance was supposed by 

 his countrymen and liimself to 

 originate in the solar beams caus- 

 ing the dust of the desert (as he 

 emphatically styled it) to rise and 

 float through the air ; and, judg- 



ing from experience, 1 should 

 pronounce this idea to be partly 

 correct, as 1 can aver that this 

 sandy ocean was only visible 

 during the hottest part of the 

 day. To prevent the supposition 

 of my having been deceived in its 

 reality, I may here add, that I 

 have seen this phenomenon and 

 the Snhrab, or watery illusion, so 

 frequent in deserts, called by 

 French travellers the Mirage, in 

 opposite quarters at the same pre- 

 cise moment, and that they were 

 to my sight perfectly distinct ; 

 the former having a cloudy and 

 dim aspect, whilst the latter is 

 luminous, and can only be mis- 

 taken for water . to corroborate 

 what I have advanced, I maylike- 

 Avise state that I afterwards was 

 joined by a Fakeer from Kabool, 

 who had come through the desert 

 from Seistan, and told me that 

 he had witnessed the moving 

 sands to a much gieater degree 

 than I had described (or was wil- 

 ling to give him credit for), as he 

 talked of being forced to sit down 

 in consequence of the density of 

 the cloud which enveloped him. 



To proceed with my journal. 

 Sixteen miles from our last halt- 

 ing-place, we reached the eastein 

 bank of a dry river called the 

 Boodoor : it was at least five hun- 

 dred yards in breadth, running in 

 a south-south-east direction to- 

 wards the coast ; the bed of it 

 in many places impervious from 

 a thick jungul of diffeient kinds 

 of trees and brush- wood, the 

 haunt of wolves, jackalls, and 

 other wild animals. We turned 

 to the right, and proceeded five 

 miles north-westerly up the river 

 bed to a spot where there had a 

 few months before been a village 



aptly 



