156 WIDE AND INHOSPITABLE DESERTS.

rity to have endeavoured to sit on the camels during itsimpetuous fury. Before it began, the sky was clear; savea few small clouds in the north-west quarter; and theonly warnings it afforded; were the oppressive sultriness ofthe air, and. a vast number of whirlwinds springing upan all sides. These whirlwinds, he observes, might per-haps be more correctly expressed by some other name; butas the wind issued from them, he adopts the term. Theyare vast columns of sand, which begin by a trifling agi-tation, with a revolving motion on the surface of the de-sert, and gradually ascend and expand, until their topsare lost to tire view. In this manner they move about withevery breath of wind, and are observed, thirty or forty ofthem at the same time, of different dimensions, apparentlyfrom one to twenty yards in diameter. Those who haveseen a water-spout at sea, may exactly conceive the sameformed of sand on shore. The moment the guide sawthe whirlwinds disperse, which they did as if by magic,and a cloud of dust approaching, he advised the party todismount, which they had hardly time to do, and lodgethemselves snugly behind the camels, when a storm burstupon them with a furious blast of wind, the rain falling inhuge drops, and the air being so completely darkened,that they were unable to discern any object at the distanceof even five yards.

The following is Bruce’s account of this singular pheno-menon, which he represents as one of the most magnificentspectacles imaginable, and by which himself and his coin'panions were at once surprised and terrified. Having reachedthe vast expanse of desert which lies to the west and north'west of Chendi, they saw a number of prodigious pillarsof sand at different distances, at times moving with greatcelerity, and at others stalking on with a majestic slowness-At intervals the party thought they should be overwhelmedby these sand pillars; and small quantities of sand didactually more than once reach them. Again, they wouldretreat so as to be almost out of sight, their summits reach*ing to the very clouds. There the tops often separatedfrom the bodies; and these, once disjointed, dispersed mthe air, and did not appear more. »■- They were sometime*broken near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon*•hot. About noon they began to advance with eon***