During This Time We Were Subjected
To Intense Heat And Constant Dust-Storms, Attended With A General Plague
Of Boils.
Verily, the plagues of Egypt remain to this day in the Soudan.
On the 26th June, we had the most extraordinary dust-storm that had ever
been seen by the inhabitants.
I was sitting in the courtyard of my
agent's house at about 4:30 P.M.: there was no wind, and the sun was as
bright as usual in this cloudless sky, when suddenly a gloom was cast
over all, - a dull yellow glare pervaded the atmosphere. Knowing that
this effect portended a dust-storm, and that the present calm would be
followed by a hurricane of wind, I rose to go home, intending to secure
the shutters. Hardly had I risen, when I saw approaching, from the S.W.
apparently, a solid range of immense brown mountains, high in air. So
rapid was the passage of this extraordinary phenomenon, that in a few
minutes we were in actual pitchy darkness. At first there was no wind,
and the peculiar calm gave an oppressive character to the event. We were
in "a darkness that might be felt." Suddenly the wind arrived, but not
with the violence that I had expected. There were two persons with me,
Michael Latfalla, my agent, and Monsieur Lombrosio. So intense was the
darkness, that we tried to distinguish our hands placed close before our
eyes; - not even an outline could be seen. This lasted for upwards of
twenty minutes:
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