SANDS OF THE DESERTS. 
257 
4“S at upon the party, the wind being very 
it * thj Eleven of them ranged alongside, at 
j. ^'Stance of three miles from Siems and at this 
V M to 'a 6>'eate.st diameter of the largest of them ap- 
a Bruce to be about ten feet. They retired 
) south-east, leaving an impression on our 
^fe^ly '^’ind, to which he could give no name, though 
of its ingredients was fear, blended with a 
''I nortion of wonder and surprise. It was in 
of fleeing : tlie swiftest horse, or fastest- 
rescuing 
riveted 
fav' to tyi" portion of wonder 
■ 
% p- have been of any use in 
Ij, as i|. danger. The full persuasion of this . .. 
'’PO'- 'vhere he stood, and he allowed 
h S''iti on him so much, that it was with 
'> a S|,i^ ''“old overtake them. 
V* of j occasion, an assemblage of these moving 
g more numerous, but less in size than the 
’C Brace's party soon after sun-risp, 
ti(. like a tliick wood. They almost darkened 
ti'l’lan rtiys of which, shining through them for 
H* Poq.)] gave them an appearance of pillars of fire. 
^J'''grnenf desperate, some saying it was the day 
‘Ptd others, that the world was on fire, 
f'.^'ljej ,| ,®> in his more recent travels in Egypt, thus 
of {? Phenomenon. 
^ '^atn itttmense columns of sand, mentioned by 
1- jj.®^’^Pidly towardsus, turningupon its baseasupon 
7 - 
the Nile so near us, that the whirlwind 
'tltb! placed our vessel upon its beam- 
iln JS the *hhte into the w-ater, and nearly up- 
-A-s we were engaged in righting the vessel, 
\hi ^*11 s It is probable that tliose columns 
% Of Qy , ®'^ly upon any particular spot, so as to be 
®'’"'’hclmiug au army or a caravan ; but diat, as 
''"’its ^*'h'en, is gradually accumulated, it be- 
% Pfcigfg dispersed, and the column, diminishing 
bo a*’, ^t length disappears ' 
?i> 0 ^ . °tlbt Urecinitntorl m ft 
’ at length disappears. A great quantity of 
. precipitated as the effect which gathers 
? siugM ^her ; but, from witnessing such phenomena 
scale, it does not seem likely that tlie 
Ihc sand E at once abandoned. 
