THE KHAMSIN OR SIMOOM OF THE SAHARA 73 



fatigue and want, is unable any longer to move his paralysed 

 limbs. The caravan abandons him to his fate ; for every one 

 thinks but of himself; and who, but his owner, cares about a 

 slave ? In a short time the dry atmosphere changes the corpse 

 into a natural mummy, which, " grinning horribly a ghastly 

 smile," seems to defy the desert. But often the crows, wheeling 

 with dismal cries over the dying wretch, hack out his eyes 

 before death relieves him of all pain. These corsairs of the air 

 accompany the caravan, as sharks accompany a vessel, reckon- 

 ing, like the tyrants of the seas, upon the tribute of the 

 journey. 



The sultry breath of the desert is felt far beyond its bounds ; 

 for the Sahara is great, and all greatness has a wide extended 

 influence. It blows over Italy, where it is known as the 

 sirocco, and crosses even the Alps, where, under the name of 

 the Fonwind, it rapidly melts the snow of the higher valleys, 

 and causes dangerous inundations. The dust of the desert, 

 whirled high into the air, frequently falls upon the decks of 

 vessels crossing the Atlantic, far from the coast of Africa, and 

 flies in clouds over the Ked Sea — a greeting from Nubia to 

 Arabia. 



Eussegger gives us a graphic account of a khamsin storm 

 which he witnessed at Scheibun, on the Nile (11° 13' N. lat.): 

 " At three in the afternoon storm-clouds arose, that rapidly 

 approached with an increasing intensity of colour : a dark, and 

 yet burningly vivid, brown-red passing into deep black and 

 grey. A thundering roar was heard : it seemed as if a vast city 

 like London was in flames, and as if peals of heavy artillery 

 were continually booming out of the fiery mass. Menscherah, 

 with its palms and mimosas, and the broad river in the fore- 

 ground, had an indescribably magnificent effect ; for never did 

 a more vivid green stand forth from a more dark and lurid 

 background. But suddenly the whole prospect was veiled, and 

 a strange and ghastly twilight cast its funereal glare over the 

 scene. Sheets of lightning, instantly followed by terrific claps 

 of thunder, flamed uninterruptedly across the sky ; the groaning 

 trees crashed and fell ; and the river rose in large waves, as if 

 it had been a wide lake agitated by a storm." 



The air, filled with dust and sand to suffocation, had a tem- 



