THE EARTH. 



243 



making a line of destruction ; so the winds in tliis seem to blow 

 from every quarter, and settle upon one destined place, with 

 such fury, that nothing can resist their vehemence. When they 

 have all met, in their central spot, then the whirlwind begins 

 with ciicular rapiditj'. The sphere every moment widens, as it 

 continues to turn, and catches every object that lies within it3 

 attraction. This also, lilie the former, is preceded by a flatter- 

 ing calm ; the air is ever)' where hushed, and the sea is as smooth 

 as polished glass : however, as its effects are more dreadful than 

 those of the ordinary hurricane, the mariner tries all the power 

 of his skill to avoid it ; which, if he fails of doing, there is the 

 greatest danger of his going to the bottom. All along the coasts 

 of Guinea, beginning about two degrees north of the Line, and 

 so downward, lengthwise, for about a thousand miles, and as 

 many broad, the ocean is unnavigable, on account of these tor- 

 nadoes. In this torrid region there reigns unceasing tornadoes, 

 or continual calms; among which, whatever ship is so unhappy 

 as to fall, is totally deprived of all power of escaping. In this 

 dreadful repose of all the elements, the solitary vessel is obliged 

 to continue, without a single breeze to assist the mariner's 

 wishes, except those whirlwinds, which only serve to increase 

 his calamity. At present, therefore, this part of the ocean is 

 totally avoided; and, although there may be much gold along 

 the coasts of that part of Africa, to tempt avarice, yet there is 

 something, much more dreadful than the fabled dragon of anti 

 quity, to guard the treasure. As the internal parts of that 

 country are totally unknown to travellers, from their burning 

 sand and extensive deserts ; so here we find a vast tract of ocean, 

 lying off its shores, equally unvisited by tlie mariner. 



But of all these terrible tempests that deform the face of 

 nature, and repress human presumption, the sandy tempests oi 

 Arabia and Africa are the most terrible,* and strike the imagi- 



» In his travels to discover the source of the Nile, Mr Bruce observed 

 the astonishing phenomenon of moving pillars of sand, whirh are probably 

 the effects of a number of whirlwinds in those torrid regions. In relating 

 the particulars of his journey across a part of the deserts of Africa, he ob. 

 oerves, " We were here at once surprised and terrified with a sight surely 

 one of the most magnificent in the world. In that vast expanse of desert, 

 from west and to the north-west of us, we saw a number of prodigious pi|. 

 .ara of sand at different distances, at times moving with great celerity, and 

 »t others stalking ou with a majestic sImm np=-- ; at interv;ils we tliought thej 



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