weigh but a very few pounds; no vermin had touched it,
■as in this whole defert there- is neither worm,.fly, nor any
ih in g that has the breath, o f life. '
O n the.2ift, a t d i x iri-the-morning, having filled the gir-.
has with water, we fe to u t from Naibey, our direction due
north, and, as we thought, in a courfe almoft ftraight upon
Syene. The firft hour o f our journey was through fliarp-
pointed rocks, which it was very eafy to forefee w ou ldve ry
foon finifh our .camels. About eight we had a view o f the
defert to the welt ward as before, and faw the fands had al-
je a d y begun to rife in immenfe twilled pillars, which darkened
the heavens. The riling o f thefe in the morning fo early
, we began now to obferve, was a fure fign o f a hot day,
.with a briik wind at n o r th ;. and that heat, and the early
riling o f the fands, was as fure a fign o f its falling calm about
mid-day, and its being followed by two hours o f the poifon-
pus wind, That laft confidefation was what made the great-
eft impreflion, for we had felt its effects ; it had filled us
with fear, and abforbed the laft rapinant o f our ftrength;
whereas the fand, though a deftrudlion to us i f it-had involved
us in its compafs, had as yet done us no other harm
than terrifying us the firft days we had leen it,
I t was this d a y more magnificent th in any we had as"
yet feen. The fun Alining through the pillars, which were
thicker, and contained more fand apparently than any o f
the preceding days, feemed to give tbofe neareft us an appearance
as if fpotted with liars o f gold. I do not think
.at any time they feemed to be nearer than two miles. The
mo il remarkable circumftance was, that the fand feemed
to keep, in that vaft circular fpace.furrounded by the N ik
2 ,
am o u r left, in goin g round by Chaigie towards Dongola,
and feldom was obferved much to the eaftward 'o f a meridian,
palling along the Nile through the Magiran, before it
takes that turn ; whereas the finxoom-was always on the
oppofite fide-of our courfe,coming upon us from .the fouthu
ITT iE hefOK tweIve "our ^ n d at north eeafed, and a
confiderable quantity o f fine fand rained upon us for an
our afterwards. At the time it appeared, the defcription
O f us phxnomenon in Syphax’s fpeech-to Cato was. peipe-
tually before my mind tr—
So, wh ere our w id e Numidian waftes extend,'
Sudden th impetuous hurricanes defcend,
Wheel through the air,: in circling eddies’play;
Tear up the fands, and fweep whole plainsaway.
The helplefs traveller, with wild furprife,
Sees the dry defert all. around him rife,
And fmother’d in. the dully whirlwind dies;
A d d i s o n ;
Thefe lines are capital,' and are a line copy, which can only
appeal tame by the original having/been -before our eyes
painted by the great mailer, the Creator and Ruler o f the world.: ua
; T h e fimoom, with the wind at S. El immediately foftowa
e win at N. and the ufual defpondeney that always accompanied
it. The blue meteor, with which it began,, pafl:
edover us about twelve, and the ruffling wind that follow;
ed.it continued till near two. Silence, and a defperate k in d .
of.