METEORIC DUSTS, N.S.W. 273 



Dust Atmosphere of China. — J. P. O'Reilly, Dublin, in a 

 letter to "Nature," January 17th, 1884, quotes from von 

 Richtofen's work upon Ohina, in reference to the dust 

 atmosphere so characteristic of Central Asia and more 

 particularly of the loess district : — "Even during complete 

 calms the atmosphere is often for many days yellow and 

 opaque. The view is completely hemmed in and the sun 

 appears merely as a dull bluish disk." 



More markedly is this character presented by these 

 peculiar dust storms so well known to travellers visiting 

 Tien-tsin and Pekin, and even more so to those who travel 

 in the interior of the N.W. provinces of Ohina. The wind 

 then blows from Central Asia and everything becomes 

 covered with a fine yellowish dust. 



" In Shensi where the air is rarely clear and transparent, 

 the whole landscape has a yellow tint, streets, houses, 

 trees, crops, and even the traveller one meets on the road, 

 and the air itself, one and all are yellow coloured." 1 



A writer in "Nature ," Aug. 12th, 1886, p. 348, quoting 

 from an article in the American Meteorological Journal, 

 upon the dust storms of Pekin, says : — ■" These occur in the 

 dry season, especially in the winter and early spring ; they 

 come on at irregular intervals, perhaps six or eight times 

 in the season, and last about three days. The wind is W. 

 or more often N.W. and blows fresh or high. The dust 

 extends eastward from Pekin to the sea and south east- 

 wards it regularly descends as far south as the Yellow 

 River, and sometimes to Shanghai 10° of latitude away." 



The writer of the paper says this vast quantity of dust 

 must come from the great deserts of Mongolia. He also 

 refers to the variations in the barometer and thermometer 

 accompanying the storms, and to the obscuration of the 

 sun, which was set in a ring. 



1 See also Johnson's "Journey to Ilchi the capital of Kotau." — (Royal 

 Geogr. Soc, 1867, p. 5.) 



E— Nov. 5, 1902. 



