CLIMATE. 113 



dense and suffocating cloud ; even the larger gravel and peb- 

 bles are sometimes lifted from the plain and carried like hail 

 before the force of the blast. The horses are blinded, para- 

 lyzed with fear, and no urging can induce them to go for- 

 ward. Were it otherwise, to go on would be folly ; the road 

 and sun are hid from view ; no landmarks by which to be 

 guided safety bids you remain. The traces are unhitched, 

 and the horses tethered to the wagon; the only course is to 

 securely fasten down the sides to the wagon-top, and wait 

 with what patience one can command until the storm has 

 passed, which will be, doubtless, in from six to ten hours. 



"Once the stage encountered a sand-storm, while within 

 three hundred yards of a station ; the horses could not be in- 

 duced to move, and there was no remedy but to stay by them 

 till the gale had spent its force, though the station was even 

 in sight. 



" I have found such a storm sufficiently disagreeable while 

 housed by the river-side, the fine sand penetrating everywhere, 

 and have no ambition to encounter one upon the central des- 

 ert. Luckily, they are not very common in the severest 

 aspect ; in summer, quite rare." 



8 



