Chap. XX. 
DUST-STORMS. 
depending on the amount of light, or, more pro- 
perly speaking, the amount of dust in the atmo- 
sphere at the time. The quantity of dust that 
covered one’s person was astonishing, and the 
clothes, &c., inside the coat were thickly covered 
with it. On drawing a feather through the 
fingers it became strongly electrified. 
“ When I returned to Tien-tsin I learned that 
the dust-storm occurred there about the same time 
we experienced it thirty miles N.W., and that the 
electric conductor showed an extraordinary quan- 
tity of electricity — a large blue flame poured out 
of the end of the conductor without intermission. 
There being little or no light, this showed a beau- 
tiful appearance, while the sound of it was quite 
audible at some distance off, and the shock felt on 
touching the conductor was powerful. The quan- 
tity of dust that entered the house was very great. 
There was a recurrence of the dust-storm on the 
27th, but not approaching in strength to the one 
on the 26th. It was also ascertained that it 
occurred at Peking, and at Taku, where the fury 
of the storm was greatest. Several country boats 
were wrecked in the river Peiho. Repeated obser- 
vations have enabled me to come to the conclusion 
that these dust-storms are owing to the electric 
condition of the atmosphere.” 
The natural productions of these northern pro- 
vinces, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, 
are, in many instances, remarkable for their great 
size. In former days the merchants who came 
