A SANDSPOUT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15169, 7 December 1912, Page 5 (Supplement)

A SANDSPOUT.

.SuPERFieALLr, desert and. ocean are entirely unlike; ono is waterless, the other is nothing but . water. • But they have similarities, nevertheless. Under the compulsion of "a whirling ■ wind, particles of desert sand and particles ' of sea-water act very much alike. A terrifying illustration of this fact was afforded to Mr. Warner Van Orden, who was travelling recently across- China on missionary business. He relates'his experience •in the New York Times,

"As we drew near a large ' town in a valley, we left the green wheat-fields behind and found ourselves on a quivering, fiery desert a house' in sight, not a tree, only the yielding, treacherous, slippery sand. Suddenly there appeared on the horizon a deep yellowish cloud, that extended rapidly' from 'the north-west to the south. - ..... "''".

"Our pack-train, the donkey everything about us, became tinged with its fulvous hue. Our guide, a great,. hulking lad,' displayed considerable .. nervousness, at which I was .surprised, for one becomes inured. to dust-storms in this' part of China. . Each succeeding . minute the wind increased in force; great blasts or air drove the sharp sand against jpur face's until the tears began to , wash ' their way down our cheeks.

| "Now the yellow cloud in the west ! gradually becamo darker, until it was transformed into. the most ominous blackness. .It was moving towards us with great rapidity.' Instinctively we slipped from our beasts and crouched beside them. My animal was : shaking like a leaf, too frightened even to whinny. The air was. heavily charged with electricity. We tingled all over. • ■' ,■'

" In the twinkling of eye, just as we expected to be buried in eand, the whole scene changed. The storm . seized the great dark cloud as if with a mighty hand, and twisted it round into a-whirl-ing column, twenty yards in diameter, that stood for a moment perfectly upright. Then, little by little, it leaned forward, and like, a great spectre, it swept by us, passing so near us that grains of sand fly-, ing off at -a- tangent- struck us with incredible force. When a. mile away it unwrapped its shroud, and collapsed directly across our load. ... The donkey-boy bent over, scooped up a handful of sand, and tossed ; it' to the dying wind. All was still. ■; '■'■•■.: •'>'

"It was some time before we could speak. . Then I asked the boy why he threw the sand. < He replied, in little more than a whisper, that the sandspout was the most • voracious of all the devils, and that unless it was appeased it might arise directly ; under ; us, hurling, us into the air as a hound does a 1 rabbit. I believe, had I been, alone, I should. have • cast a little sand myself. Later/"when We beheld, hundreds and hundreds of. tons of sand piled -up where the 'spout' had fallen I realised wherein our real danger had been. Had the great mass fallen on us, wo • should have been .buried twenty feet deep." .. > /