WHIRLWIND COLUMNS 
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with the opposite bank not visible, though islands with 
kolahni palms are plentiful in its expanse. During the early 
morning hours the mosquitoes circled in vast round columns 
high into the air above the reeds of the river, with the base of 
the column on the reeds. We counted more than a dozen such 
columns in sight from one point, the furthest about three miles 
off. They appeared like a dense cloudy mass of dust upheld by 
whirlwinds, and at first we mistook these columns for this by no 
means unusual phenomenon in South Africa, when a whirlwind 
passing over a burnt flat or open space licks up all finer particles 
of material and, carrying them straight up into the air, forms a 
vast column many hundred feet high that travels for miles over 
the country, finally dropping its component parts, leaves, bits of 
stick, dust, etc., in showers on to the ground. A whirlwind has 
been known to empty a large pan of water and carry the con¬ 
tents away, including fish and frogs, for six miles, to my personal 
knowledge. On one occasion I saw two fowls drop from the 
skies, which must have been carried at least eight miles by a 
whirlwind, as there was no farmstead nearer than that distance 
to the spot where they landed on the ground, of course in a dead 
condition. A differential point between these whirlwind columns 
and those composed of mosquitoes is that the latter, appearing 
only in the morning and evening over swampy country, remain 
stationary, while the upper portions of the column are swayed 
gently backward and forward by the gentle breezes prevailing at 
that time, and that their component parts bite severely at night, 
whereas the whirlwind is mostly observed during the heat of 
the day, when the difference of temperature in the separate 
air layers is most pronounced, and brings about this peculiar 
phenomenon, which travels steadily, often at a considerable 
speed, over the country. 
Arrived at Pompey’s, we were lucky enough to be able to 
institute a trade for corn, paying fabulous prices for mealies, as 
much as one pound in cash for a bucketful, so as once and for 
all to have a sufficient supply to support us to Mongwato. 
This night the mosquitoes again visited us, if anything with 
2 A 
