SOIL AND CLIMATE. 7

and at a time, moreover, when the traveller is

longing after water. We ^vish for wings, to be

able to reach the element of which we have been

so long deprived as quickly as possible. We de-

light in the idea of invigorating the exhausted and

enervated body by a bath, and the eye is continu-

ally bent upon this pleasing object. But what is

our disappointment,—how are the spirits depressed, —when, notwithstanding these ardent wishes, on

our apjiroach, the lakes and rivers, which we had

discerned at the distance, are resolved, in the

literal sense of the word, into thin air ; and when we

find, in lieu of water, the sand as hot and drj^ as in

the place we had just left ! ^\^len the traveller has

frequently observed this phenomenon, and accus-

tomed himself to it, he will be pleased with the

image which diverts his eye, and will look upon it as

a variation in the scene. These aerial phenomena

are called in the countrj', Bahr-el-Ghazal, or Gazelle

Rivers, probably because, like these animals, they

disappear as soon as seen.

The rains begin in the month of June, and termi-

nate with the month of October. Those who have

not spent this season in a tropical countr}% can form

no idea of the showers which then drench the earth.

The storms generally arise in the east or in the

south. A small black cloud is, at first, perceived

on the horizon, which increases as it approaches,

spreads in a few minutes, with incredible velocity,

over the whole region, and then descends. A fear-