dragoon on
sentry. The night we left this place was one of the most fearful I ever
remember; it had been threatening all the afternoon, and about eight the
simoom came on with dreadful violence, blowing for five minutes at a
time, at intervals of twenty minutes or so, until we got under weigh, at
half-past twelve. The wind, hot and scorching, like a blast from a
furnace, rushed over the country with the violence of a hurricane,
bringing with it perfect clouds of dust and sand, so that it was totally
impossible to face it, except at the risk of being actually blinded or
stifled. The baggage was to have gone on before us at nine o'clock, as
the moon was expected to be up, but the clouds of dust, &c., completely
hid her from us, and she did not shew her nose the whole night. During
the blasts it was the most perfect "darkness visible" that you can
imagine, and at the intervals when it ceased, the sensation of the
atmosphere was more like standing before a hot fire than anything else.
I had read of these things before in novels, travels, &c; I now, for the
first time, experienced the reality. Add to all these little annoyances,
we were every moment expecting a rush of Beloochees; and if they had had
the pluck of a hare, they might have considerably crippled our
proceedings, by rushing in and ham-stringing our camels. The darkness,
the unavoidable confusion, the awkwardness of the camels themselves, all
favoured them, and I expected nothing less; if they had been Cossacks
instead, they would have played the very devil with us altogether. At
length, at half-past eleven, the baggage got off, and now for the first
time with a baggage guard, consisting of a troop, or company, from each
of the three regiments, together with all the irregular horse we
possessed, with strict orders that any Beloochees shewing themselves at
all near the baggage were instantly to be cut down or bayoneted. The
main body followed in another hour, with a strong rear-guard, to pick up
stragglers, &c. These precautions ought to have been taken before, and
poor Adams would have been saved. I know very little of this march, as I
remember I slept through the whole of it, until morning, on horseback,
being terribly fatigued and worn out. The morning was delightfully cool,
with a fresh bracing breeze from the north. You may well imagine how we
enjoyed it, after the terrible relaxation of the night before. We
reached our ground about seven, at a place called Nons