WHIRLWINDS OF SAND. 141 



heats the blood, it dries the skin, it renders respiration troublesome ; 

 but it does not kill. 



It is not always a single wind which blows in the Deserts ; but 

 sometimes two or three currents, from opposite directions, cross and 

 clash and drive against one another with increasing fury. Then 



WHIRLWINDS or SAND (SAND-SPOUTS). 



is produced the singular phenomenon of the sand-spout, often witnessed 

 on a magnificent scale in the sandy plains of Eastern Asia and Southern 

 America. The sand is not now driven in voluminous masses in a 

 rectilineal direction ; but raised aloft in the form of long tortuous 

 columns, which whirl to and fro like gigantic specti'es in the mazes of 

 a wild demon-dance. At the same time, the azure of the sky grows 



