398 SUDDEN CHANGE OF WEATHER. 
unexpectedly became overcast with clouds, and the 
whole heavens assumed a menacing and threatening 
appearance. To the east and to the west, thunder- 
clouds gathered heavily around, every indication of 
sudden and violent rain was present to cheer us as 
we advanced, and all were rejoicing in the prospects 
of a speedy termination to our difficulties. The 
wind had in the morning been north-east, gradually 
veering round to north and north-west, at which 
point it was stationary when the clouds began to 
gather. Towards sunset a heavy storm passed over 
our heads, with the rapidity almost of lightning ; 
the wind suddenly shifted from north-west to south- 
west, blowing a perfect hurricane, and rendering it 
almost impossible for us to advance against it. A 
few moments before we had confidently expected a 
heavy fall of rain ; the dark and lowering sky had 
gradually gathered and concentrated above and 
around us, until the very heavens seemed over- 
weighted and ready every instant to burst. A 
briefer interval of time, accompanied by the sudden 
and violent change of wind, had dashed our hopes to 
the ground, and the prospect of rain was now over, 
although a few heavy clouds still hung around us. 
Three miles from where we had halted during the 
heat of the day, we passed some tolerable grass, though 
dry, scattered at intervals among the scrub, which 
grew here in dense belts, but with occasional open- 
ings between. The character of the ground was very 
