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himself from suffering from these noxious blasts, 

 is by throwing himself down with his face upon 

 the earth, till the whirlwind of poisonous ex- 

 halations has blown over, which always moves 

 at a certain height in the atmosphere. Instinct 

 even teaches the brutes to incline their heads to 

 the ground on these occasions : camels have 

 always been observed upon the approach of this 

 destructive wind to bury their noses in the sand 

 until it had blown over. 



The heat (according to Volney) is sometimes 

 so excessive, that it is difficult to form any 

 idea of its violence without having experienced 

 it ; but it approaches nearly to that of a large 

 oven, at the moment of drawing out the bread. 

 Woe ! therefore, to the traveller whom this 

 wind surprises remote from shelter! he must 

 then suffer all its dreadful consequences. The 

 danger is when it blows in squalls, for then the 

 rapidity of the wind increases the heat to such 

 a degree as to cause sudden death. This 

 death is a real suffocation. This wind is 

 especially fatal to persons of a plethoric habit. 

 These accidents are to be avoided by stopping 

 the nose and mouth with handkerchiefs. Another 



