DESERT JOURNEYS. 349 



strength, but its character, its electric potential, which brings 

 suffering and destruction to man and beast wandering on the sandy 

 sea. 



The natives and the observant can foretell the coming of the sand- 

 storm at least one day, often several days, ahead. Unfailing symp- 

 toms tell of its approach. The air becomes sultry and oppressive; a 

 light, grayish or reddish vapour obscures the sky; and there is not 

 a breath of wind. All living creatures suffer visibly under the 

 gradually increasing sultriness; men grumble and groan; the wild 

 animals are shyer than usual; the camels become restless and cross, 

 jostling one another, jibbing stubbornly, even lying down on the 

 ground. The sun sets without any colour; no red-glow fringes the 

 evening sky; every light is veiled in a vaporous shroud. Night 

 brings neither coolness nor refreshment, rather an aggravation of 

 the sultriness, the lassitude, the discomfort; in spite of all weari- 

 ness one cannot sleep. If men and beasts are still able to move, no 

 rest is taken, but they hurry on with the most anxious haste as 

 long as the leader can see any of the heavenly bodies. But the 

 vapour becomes a dry fog, obscuring one constellation after another, 

 hiding moon and sun, though in the most favourable conditions 

 these may be visible, about half their normal size, pale in colour 

 and of ill-defined contour. 



Sometimes it is at midnight that the wind begins to raise its 

 wings; more commonly about noon. Without a watch no one could 

 tell the time, for the fog has become so thick that the sun is com- 

 pletely hidden. A gloomy twilight covers the desert, and everything 

 even within a short radius is hazy and indistinct. Gently, hardly 

 perceptibly the air at length begins to move. It is not a breeze, but 

 the merest breath. But this breath scorches, pierces like an icy 

 wind into bone and marrow, producing dull headache, enervation, 

 and uneasiness. The first breath is followed by a more perceptible 

 gust, equally piercing and deadening. Several brief blasts rage 

 howling across the plain. 



It is now high time to encamp. Even the camels know this, 

 for no whip will make them take another step. Panic-stricken 

 they sink down, stretch out their long necks in front of them, press 



