SANDS OF THE DESERTS. 
255 
simple theory of these moying sands is sub- 
/ ute author. When the violent whirlwinds which 
Ihe desert, terminate in gusts of wind, tliey 
'rtesi square miles of surface, raging 
w '"ly „ 
(Jf *^^OSlVl*kl ”T ' ^ ^ 
, ,^5iHl ]■ f°-ce, and bearing upwards an immense body 
iti dL descends as tire current of air that gave it 
;J'testion'*'^‘''>b thus creating the extraosdinaiy appearance 
t( • If it should be asked what prevents the sand from 
j, test a, ^ f^gether, when it has so fk accomplished this as 
i’Paretitly on the waves, the answer is, tliat all the 
r v do settle , but that the more minute ones 
K a degree by the heat produced by 
on the red soil, that they remain as it 
\,.^?eraiy “'I^cided undulating state, until the returning 
'"'^fotes their specific gravity, when, by an 
Ck ‘tie- nature, tliey sink to the earth. This in 
V^s . coincides with the opinion of the native 
conformably to tlieir notion, it is evident 
Ssiv”"-’''- 
-ve j I “g sands would be apparent at all periods of 
Hun,?, difluenco, which not being the case, it be- 
%. liod a primary cause for the pheuome- 
ii/'il i,j '®Hlove any suspicion of his having been de- 
, ''-Ht h'. '^^'dy of this floating vapour of sand, he 
l?'''^tufy seen this phenomenon, and the Suhrab, 
•iifdjv -ii ot:en uus pnenoiiiciiuii, <.uiu lut; oumtiu, 
u ■' r,-; , ‘fusion so frequent in deserts, called by the 
' W-.t’ ' 11A ' . „ _i. ^ t- ♦■k.v f»rirv>ia tw> rimotv f 
U: 
in opposite quarters at the same moment, 
ling to his sight perfectly distin 
a cloudy and dim aspect, the latter was lu 
only be mistaken for water 
hj^'''-irdi ■ . da.s here advanced, ho states that he 
Joined ' 
.%K had w'itnessed the 
To corro- 
was 
\ .''ftJs ; ■ here advanc 
i|if‘ 'iiat 1 ) by a fakcer from Kaboul, who informed 
'VpH q,.? P^d W'itnessed tha moving sands, in passing 
'p^i Pa.s desert from Seistan, to a much greater degree 
'** '1 '‘I hav? '' ■^''‘■‘hed ; and, what is scarcely credible, he 
. tj'* dei Peen forced 
*^foitv 
tc sit down), in consequence 
Of proceeds to a curious description ot 
of sand formed in the deserts. He 
'** iu So '■‘“lent tornado, or gust of w'ind, which 
j^hddcnly, that, if he had not been apprized 
Patty •' Pf JPe guide, it might have been disastrous 
" hi whom it would have been an act of teme- 
f 'll tile cloud in w'hich he was cnvelojied. 
