DUST-STORMS. 
Chap. XX. 
obscured as if a total eclipse had suddenly oc- 
curred. The wind blowing a hurricane, the dark- 
ness had something appalling in it, it was so 
sudden -and so unusual. It was noticed that the 
darkness would lighten somewhat, at intervals of 
a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, as if about 
to abate, when it would suddenly increase again, 
along with a slight change of wind to the N.N.E. 
The wind, endeavouring to become more north- 
erly, would suddenly turn again to this point, and 
bring along with it an increase of the dust. This 
state continued till about midnight, when there 
was a slight calm, which lasted until about eight 
o’clock the following morning. 
“ On the occurrence of this dust-storm there 
was a rapid fall of the thermometer, and during 
the night a hard frost set in. At the place where 
I made these observations — about thirty miles 
N. W. of Tien-tsin — I noticed a poor man of seventy 
years of age in a very excited state, crying out 
4 What day is this ? ’ and 4 low-le ,’ the words corre- 
sponding to 4 Oh, Providence.’ He would give 
me little or no information on the subject; but 
from others I learned that such heavy storms had 
occurred before ; and on my return to Tien-tsin 
I ascertained that one happened thirty-six years 
ago which lasted a fortnight, and that the light 
during that time was somewhat like the dusk of 
evening. I also learned that the Chinese desig- 
nated this storm as a red one — their classification 
being as follows ; white, yellow, red, and black ; 
