Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Observations On The Destruction Of Sennacherib's Army.
strength was left us to load the camels and arrange the baggage .. ibid . p . 5 81 . ' ¦ ' - ' : ' The Simooms , with the wind at S . E . immediately follows the wind at North , and the usual despondency that always accompanied it : the blue meteor , with which it began , passing over us about twelve , and the ruffling wind that followed it , continued till near two . Silenceand a desperate kind of indifference about lifewere the
imme-, , diate effects upon us ; and I began now , seeing the condition of my camels , to fear we were all doomed to a sandy grave , and to contemplate it with some degree of resignation . ' Ibid . tp . 583 . ' I here began to provide for the worst—I saw the fate of our camels fast approaching , and that our men grew weak in proportion : our breadtoobegan to fail usalthough we had plenty of camel's
, , , flesh in its stead : our water , though , to all appearance , we were used to find it more frequently than in the beginning of our journey , was brackish , and scarce served the purpose to quench our thirst ; and above all , ' the dreadful Simoom had perfectly exhausted our strength , and brought upon us a degree of cowardice and languor , that we struggled with in vain . I therefore , as the last effort , began to throw
away every thing weighty I could spare , or that was not absolutel y necessary . ' Ibid . p . 5 S 4 . After this , the following extract may afford information : it is from Dr . Obsonville ' s Essays on the East : ' Some enlightened travellers have seriously written , that evbry individual who falls a victim to this infection , is immediately reduced to ashes , though apparently only asleep ; and that when taken hold of to
be awakened . by passengers , the limbs part from the body , and remain in the hand . Such travellers would evidently not have taken these tales on hearsay , if they had paid a proper attention to other facts , which they either did or ought to have heard . Experience proves , that animals , by pressing their nostrils to the earth , and men , by covering their heads in their mantles , have nothing to fear from these meteors . This demonstrates the impossibility that a poisonwhich
, can only penetrate the most delicate parts of the brain or lungs , should calcine the skin , flesh , nerves , and bones . I acknowledge , these accounts are had from the Arabs themselves ; but their picturesque and extravagant expressions are a kind of imaginary coin , to know the true value of ' which required some practice . ' Notwithstanding- this remark of our author , if the word immediately
was exchanged for quickly , the account might be pretty much justified . He proceeds : ' I have twice had an opportunity of considering the effect of these Siphons with some attention . 1 shall relate simply what I have seen in the case of a merchant and two travellers , who were struck during their sleep , and died on the spot . I rati to see if it was
possible to afford them any succour , but they , were already . dead ; the victims of an interior suffocating fire . There were apparent signs of the dissolution of their fluids , a kind of serous matter issued from the nostrils , mouth , and ears ; and in . something- more than an hour , the whole body was in the same state . However , as according to the custom of the Arabs , they were diligent to pay them the-last duties VOL . IX . L ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Observations On The Destruction Of Sennacherib's Army.
strength was left us to load the camels and arrange the baggage .. ibid . p . 5 81 . ' ¦ ' - ' : ' The Simooms , with the wind at S . E . immediately follows the wind at North , and the usual despondency that always accompanied it : the blue meteor , with which it began , passing over us about twelve , and the ruffling wind that followed it , continued till near two . Silenceand a desperate kind of indifference about lifewere the
imme-, , diate effects upon us ; and I began now , seeing the condition of my camels , to fear we were all doomed to a sandy grave , and to contemplate it with some degree of resignation . ' Ibid . tp . 583 . ' I here began to provide for the worst—I saw the fate of our camels fast approaching , and that our men grew weak in proportion : our breadtoobegan to fail usalthough we had plenty of camel's
, , , flesh in its stead : our water , though , to all appearance , we were used to find it more frequently than in the beginning of our journey , was brackish , and scarce served the purpose to quench our thirst ; and above all , ' the dreadful Simoom had perfectly exhausted our strength , and brought upon us a degree of cowardice and languor , that we struggled with in vain . I therefore , as the last effort , began to throw
away every thing weighty I could spare , or that was not absolutel y necessary . ' Ibid . p . 5 S 4 . After this , the following extract may afford information : it is from Dr . Obsonville ' s Essays on the East : ' Some enlightened travellers have seriously written , that evbry individual who falls a victim to this infection , is immediately reduced to ashes , though apparently only asleep ; and that when taken hold of to
be awakened . by passengers , the limbs part from the body , and remain in the hand . Such travellers would evidently not have taken these tales on hearsay , if they had paid a proper attention to other facts , which they either did or ought to have heard . Experience proves , that animals , by pressing their nostrils to the earth , and men , by covering their heads in their mantles , have nothing to fear from these meteors . This demonstrates the impossibility that a poisonwhich
, can only penetrate the most delicate parts of the brain or lungs , should calcine the skin , flesh , nerves , and bones . I acknowledge , these accounts are had from the Arabs themselves ; but their picturesque and extravagant expressions are a kind of imaginary coin , to know the true value of ' which required some practice . ' Notwithstanding- this remark of our author , if the word immediately
was exchanged for quickly , the account might be pretty much justified . He proceeds : ' I have twice had an opportunity of considering the effect of these Siphons with some attention . 1 shall relate simply what I have seen in the case of a merchant and two travellers , who were struck during their sleep , and died on the spot . I rati to see if it was
possible to afford them any succour , but they , were already . dead ; the victims of an interior suffocating fire . There were apparent signs of the dissolution of their fluids , a kind of serous matter issued from the nostrils , mouth , and ears ; and in . something- more than an hour , the whole body was in the same state . However , as according to the custom of the Arabs , they were diligent to pay them the-last duties VOL . IX . L ,