A FALL OF DUST AT SEA. 



125 



A singular meteorological phenomenon often occurs at Shanghai a fall of dust, 

 fine, light and impalpable, sometimes black, ordinarily yellow. The sun or moon will 

 scarcely be visible through this sand shower. The deposit of this exquisite powder is 

 sometimes to the extent of a quarter of an inch, after a fall of a day or two; it will 

 penetrate the closest Venetian blinds ; it overspreads every article of furniture in the house ; 

 finds its way into the innermost chambers and recesses. In walking about, one's clothes 



VESSELS IN THE TOUT OF SHANGHAI. 



are covered with dust the face gets grimy, the mouth and throat parched ; the teeth 

 grate; the eyes, ears, and nostrils become itchy and irritable. The fall sometimes extends 

 as far as Ningpo in the interior also some 200 miles out at sea. Some think that it is 

 blown all the way from the steppes of Mongolia, after having been wafted by typhoons 

 into the upper regions of the air : others think that it comes across the seas from the 

 Japanese volcanoes, which are constantly subject to eruptions. 



The population of Shanghai, rapidly increasing, is probably about 400,000 to 450,000 

 souls. It swarms with professional beggars. Among the many creditable things cited by 

 Milne regarding the Chinese, is the number of native charitable institutions in Canton, 

 Ningpo, and Shanghai, including Foundling Hospitals, the (Shanghai) " Asylum for Outcast 



