THE SIMOOM IN THE DESERT. 
This fearful scourge to the traveller in the East sometimes occurs so near to Cairo 
that its hot and oppressive effects extend to the city, but it is less frequent there 
than to the east of the Libyan range and in the great deserts of Arabia. The Turks 
distinguish it by the name of Samieli, and the Arabs call it the Simoom; in Egypt 
it is better known as the Khamsin. It only reaches the valley of the Nile and sweeps 
over the Delta; when it accompanies the winds from the south-south-west and south¬ 
west, these winds are then very hot and most oppressive, and bring with them the 
fine sand of the Desert, which gives a murky hue to the atmosphere, and so obscures 
the sun, or refracts his light, that he appears enlarged and of a blood-red colour, 
lurid and appalling. 
That heated and subduing state of the atmosphere so frequently felt by travellers 
in Southern Italy, is called the Scirocco, which, blowing over from the African deserts, 
still retains enough of its dry and suffocating power to be remembered for its withering 
influence; it is a sort of exhausted Simoom, which has traversed and been cooled by 
the air of the Mediterranean, and left its surcharge of fine sand to sink into that sea. 
Those who have felt its depressing influence in Italy may imagine how pestilential 
the Simoom is to all travellers who encounter it in its impure and unchecked state 
in the Desert, where it is so often found to be destructive of animal life. On perceiving 
its approach, travellers envelope their heads in their drapery, or throw themselves on 
the ground. The camels are said to be sensible of its approach, and lay their heads 
close to the sand to avoid its effects. 
Bruce, who describes it as an exceedingly hot and enervating wind, frequently 
felt its influence, and once, when he and his company were on their way to Rascid, 
they became so enfeebled that they were incapable of pitching their tents. Each 
wrapped himself in his cloak and resigned himself to rest till it passed. “ The 
poisonous Simoom blew as if it came from an oven; our eyes were dim, our lips 
cracked, our knees tottered, our throats perfectly dry, and no relief was found from 
drinking an immoderate quantity of water. The people advised me to dip a sponge 
in vinegar and water, holding it before my mouth and nose, and this greatly 
relieved me.” 
One remarkable effect has been perceived in these “ blasts,” they frequently consist 
of a quick succession of hot and cold gusts of wind, with differences of temperature 
between these gusts of more than 20° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer. These affect 
the human body, and produce extreme feebleness and even death, for it is very 
probable that such great and sudden changes of temperature conduce to this end; 
and it is believed that the hot gusts bring a pestilential air, as a putrid and 
