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Chapter 6 -
Stormy Wind Fulfilling his Word -
From There Go the Ships
by George Shirley
Page 87
The sand getting heated by the sun to two hundred
degrees, or nearly boiling water heat, the air resting on it becomes
hot, and gives rise to ascending currents of air. Consequently cold
air flows in on all sides towards these heated places, and these
currents meeting, cause cyclones or whirling masses of air to be
formed, which, swept forward by the wind, carry all before them.
It is this glowing heat of the wind, and its parching dryness, which
is so destructive to human life. Its
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approach is indicated by it thin
haze, which, becoming more dense, soon overspreads the whole sky.
Fierce gusts of wind follow, accompanied by clouds of red and
burning sand, which look like vast columns of dust whirling round
and forward, and huge mounds of sand are transferred from place
to place by the terrible energy of the storm. They last from six
to twelve hours.
Cambyses, a Persian king, marching to plunder the temple of Jupiter
Ammon, situated in an oasis in the desert, perished, with fifty
thousand of his soldiers, by the terrible simoon. It is also supposed
that Sennacherib's army encamped round Jerusalem was destroyed
by the hot wind suffocating them, Hezekiah being saved according
to Isaiah's prophecy:
"Stormy wind fulfilling His word."
The Puna winds prevail for four months in the year, in it high
barren tableland in Peru, called the "Puna." As they
are a part of the east trade wind, after crossing the Andes mountains,
they are drained of their moisture, and consequently are the most
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© Peter Smith 2009
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