AFRICA- 351 
people time to be upon their guard. What 
ftill adds to the dread which, this difagreeable 
circumftance occafions is, that the moifture 
deprives the dogs of their fenfe of fmelling, 
and on this account they are of no ufe. My 
people were too well aware of this danger ; 
for when the rain had put out our fires, it 
was with great difficulty they could be pre- 
vailed on to re-light them, fo much were they 
afraid of being furprlfed. 
It muft indeed be allowed, that ftormy 
nights in the defarts of Africa exhibit a pic- 
ture of defolation, and people find themfelves 
involuntarily ftruck with terror. When they 
are furprifed by thefe deluges, they foon 
penetrate a tent, and inundate all the mats ; 
continued flaflies of lightning in their rapid 
palTage exhibit a momentary blaze amidft the 
moft profound obfcurity ; the loud claps of 
thunder, which burft forth on all fides with an 
awful noife, feem to clafli together, and are 
multiplied by being re-echoed from mountain 
to mountain ; the cries of domeftic animals, 
and a few intervals of dreadful filence, all con- 
fpire to render the fcene more difmal, while 
the danger of being attacked by ferocious 
beafts ftill adds to the common terror : no- 
• I thing 
