C H A P . XII.
Difireffis in the Dejert— Meet with Arabs— Camels die— Baggage abandoned—
Conte to Syene.
ON the 17th o f November, at h a lf paft ten in the forenoon,
we left the valley and poor o f Chiggre. If-
mael, and Georgis the blind Greek, had complained o f
ihivering all night, and I began to be very apprehenfive
fome violent fever was to follow. Their perfpiration had
not returned but in fmall quantity ever fince their coming
out o f the water, and the night had been ¿xceflively cold,
the thermometer Handing at 63°. The day, however, was
infufferably h ot, and their complaints infenfibly wore off to
m y great comfort. A little before eleven we were again
terrified by an army (as it feemed) o f fand pillars, whofe
march was conftantly fouth, and the favourite field which
they occupied was that great circular fpace which the Nile
makes When oppofite to Afla Nagga, where it turns weft
to Korti and Bongola. At one time a number o f thefe pillars
lars faced to the eaftward, and feemed to be coming direft-
ly upon u s ; but, though they were little nearer us than
two miles, a confiderable quantity o f fand fell round us.
I began now to be fomewhat reconciled to this phenomenon,
feeing it had hitherto done us no harm. The great
magnificence it exhibited in its appearance, feemed, in fome
meafure, to indemnify us for the panic it had firft occafion-
ed : But it was otherwife with the fimoom ; w e all o f us
were firmly perfuaded that another paffage o f the purple
meteor over us would be attended with our deaths.
A t ha lf paft four w e alighted in a vaft plain, bounded on
all fides by low fandy hills, w hich feemed to have been tranf-
ported hither lately. Thefe hillocks were from leven to
thirteen feet high, drawn into perfeA cones, with very fharp
points and well-proportioned bafes. The fand was o f an
inconceivable finenefs, having been the fport o f hot winds
for thoufands o f years. There could be no doubt that the
day before, when it was calm, and we fuffered lb much
b y the fimoom between El Mout and Chiggre, the wind
had been railing pillars o f fand; in this place, called Umdoom;
marks o f the whirling motion o f the pillars were diftinftly
Teen in every heap, fo that here again, while we were repining
at the fimoom, Providence was bulled keeping us out
o f the way o f another fcene, where, i f we had advanced a
day, we had all o f us been involved’ in inevitable deftruc-
tion.
O n the 18th we left Umdoom at feven in the morning,
our direft ion N.. a little inclined to W .j at nine o clock
we palled through a fandy plain, without trees or verdure.
About 300 yards out o f our way, to the left, among
4 B 2 fome