702 THE UNIVERSE, 



the desert routes. Not a cloud tarnishes the azure of the 

 sky, not a breath refreshes the air; a sun, the ardoixr of 

 which nothing moderates, pours doAvn its sj^arkUng light 

 and fiery rays, burning even through one's clothes. The 

 motionless and heated atmosj)here tortures the face with its 

 fiery breath, and even the sand attains an extreme heat; 

 my thermometers being broken I tried to ascertain the 

 temperature by plunging my hands into the suj^erficial 

 layers, but at the end of a tew seconds a stinging j^ain com- 

 pelled me to withdraw them. The soil also, by reflecting the 

 solar rays from the sparkling fragments of mica and quartz, 

 sometimes becomes insupportal^ly dazzling to the eye. 



Instead of the rolling waves and cool breezes of the 

 sea, this funereal region only gives out burning gusts, 

 scorching blasts which seem to issue from the gates of 

 hell; these are the simoom or poison-wind, as the Avord 

 signifies in Arab. The camel-driver knows this for- 

 midable enemy, and so soon as he sees it looming in 

 the horizon, he raises his hands to heaven and implores 

 Allah; the camels themselves seem terrified at its approach. 

 A veil of reddish black invades the gleaming sky, and very 

 soon a terrible and burning wind rises, bearing clouds 

 of fine impalpable sand, which severely irritates the eyes 

 and makes its way into the respiratory organs. 



The camels squat down and refuse to move, and the 

 travellers have no chance of safety except by making a 

 rampart of the bodies of their beasts, and covering their 

 heads so as to protect themselves against this scourge. 

 Entire caravans have sometimes perished in these sand- 

 storms; it was one of them that buried the army of 

 Cambyses when it was traversing the desert. 



Maxime du Camp, in his charming work on the Xile, 

 describes in the following terms one of these desert tem- 



