374 PHENOMENA OF GREAT DRY HEAT. 



upon the surveys for the projected Soudan railway, 

 was, that the months of April and May, which is the 

 height of the Simoom season, were on the whole hotter 

 than the month of June, though they found the average 

 temperature of the latter month to be over 100 Fahr., 

 the highest registered temperature of the year being 

 115 F. in the shade, which occurred early in May. * 

 During these great heats, such is the intense hot dryness 

 of the air that they tell us all objects felt hot to the 

 touch, even to the paper on which they were writing ; 

 and all woollen articles became so strongly charged 

 with electricity, that blankets when drawn over each 

 other, blazed up like sheet lightning in the dark tents, 

 and people drew crackling sparks from their beards, 

 when drying themselves after a bath, f 



Count D'Escayrac de Lauture also found that the 

 skin becomes scaly, while the transpiration, excessive 

 at first, is arrested. It reappears after drinking, but 

 only for a moment, while the thirst is naturally ex- 

 cessive and the stomach can bear only very light 

 nourishment. Slight headaches are also apt to be 

 produced, but otherwise the health is not in general 

 injuriously affected: on the contrary "wounds and 

 ulcers," he says, "heal with wonderful rapidity, and 

 many malarial and other affections disappear entirely- - 

 dysentery alone appearing to become aggravated, 

 and some risk of " heat apoplexy " may also be oc- 

 casioned." Such seems to be the general consensus of 

 opinion among travellers with regard to these hot winds. 



* N.B. During the Soudan Campaign of 1896 higher temperatures 

 than this were registered, up to 122 F. 



t Desert Life, by B. Solymos, 1880, pp. 15 and 16. 



Le Desert et Le Soudan, par M. le Comte D'Escayrac de Lauture, 

 1853, p. 48. 



