448 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



insupportable. Woe to the traveller whom this wind surprises remote from shelter ! he 

 must suffer all its dreadful consequences, which sometimes are mortal. The danger is 

 most imminent 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 ; the 

 lungs being empty are convulsed, the circulation disordered, and the whole mass of blood 

 driven by the heat towards the head and breast ; whence that haemorrhage at the nose 

 and mouth which happens after death. This wind is especially fatal to persons of a 

 plethoric habit, and those in whom fatigue has destroyed the tone of the muscles and 

 vessels. The corpse remains a long time warm, swells, turns blue, and is easily separated; 

 all of which are signs of that putrid fermentation which takes place when the humours 

 become stagnant. These accidents are to be avoided by stopping the nose and mouth 

 with handkerchiefs ; an efficacious method is also that practised by the camels, who bury 

 their noses in the sand, and keep them there till the squall is over. Another quality of 

 this wind is its extreme aridity, which is such, that water sprinkled upon the floor 

 evaporates in a few minutes. By this extreme dryness it withers and strips all the plants, 

 and by exhaling too suddenly the emanations from animal bodies, crisps the skin, closes 

 the pores, and causes that feverish heat which is the invariable effect of suppressed 

 perspiration. " The current of the simoom is seldom of any considerable breadth, but 

 different examples of it have been traversing a tract of country of but scanty area at the 

 same time, and several cases of disaster from it upon an extensive scale are upon record. 

 The opinion is now commonly held, that the destruction of the Assyrian army, when 



" The angel of death spread his wings on the blast, 

 And breath'd in the face of the foe as he pass'd, 

 And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill, 

 And their hearts but once heav'd, and for ever grew still," 



was accomplished by the agency of the simoom, directed by the Almighty Will over the 

 host of Senacherib, an interpretation which the terms of the prophetic announcement of 

 the avenging stroke remarkably support : " Behold, I will send a blast upon him. " 



The Harmattan, a periodical hot wind from *he desert, differs remarkably from the 

 simoom. It blows from the interior of the great Sahara, from the north-east, over 

 Senegambia and Guinea, to that part of the coast of Africa lying between Cape Verde in 

 15 north latitude to Cape Lopez in 1 south latitude, a coast line of upwards of two 

 thousand miles. It occurs during December, January, and February, generally three or 

 four times in that season. The harmattan is the local name of the wind among the 

 Fantees, a nation on the Gold Coast. It comes on indiscriminately at any hour of the 

 day, at any time of the tide, or at any period of the moon, continuing sometimes only a 

 day or two, at other times five or six days, and it has been known to last upwards of a 

 fortnight. A fog or haze is one of the peculiarities which always accompanies this wind, 

 occasioning a gloom which frequently renders even near subjects obscure, through which 

 the sun appears for a short time about noon, having a wild red aspect. Though the wind 

 blows out to sea for ten or twelve leagues, the fog is confined to the land, and leaves a 

 deposition of fine whitish particles upon the grass and trees. Extreme dryness is another 

 property of the harmattan. No dew falls during its continuance, nor is there the least 

 appearance of moisture in the atmosphere. Vegetables of every kind suffer ; all tender 

 plants and most of the productions of the garden are destroyed ; the grass withers, and 

 becomes dry like hay; vigorous evergreens feel the pernicious influence; the branches of 

 the lemon, orange, and lime trees droop, the leaves become flaccid, and so parched as to 

 be easily rubbed to dust between the fingers, should the harmattan blow for several 

 successive days. Among other extraordinary effects of the extreme dryness, it is stated, 

 that the covers of books, though closely shut up in a trunk, are bent as if they had been 



