Many years ago, when missionaries first entered the country, this wind came loaded with fine reddish sand.
Now it does not come laden with sand, but it is so drying in its effects as to shrink even the best seasoned English wood. Hence all wooden articles become warped.
This wind comes strongly charged with electricity. A bunch of ostrich feathers held for a few seconds against it becomes charged as if by an electrical machine. If one should grasp the bunch, it would give forth a sharp, crackling sound.
Livingstone noticed this electrical state of the atmosphere when traveling in a wagon with one of the native chiefs. The fur of the chief's mantle became, through a slight friction, quite luminous. Livingstone rubbed it smartly with his hand, and found it gave out quite bright sparks, with distinct crackling noises.
Turning to the chief, Livingstone said, "Do you see this?" His reply was, "The white man did not show us this; we had it long before white men came into the country,—we and our forefathers of old."
CHAPTER XIII.
GLIMPSES OF RIVERS.
The Orange River flows through South Africa. It rises in the Mont aux Sources, at an elevation of about ten thousand feet above sea level. It flows in a westerly direction for about one thousand miles, and enters the Atlantic Ocean.
It is a river of no special importance, and is of little value for any practical purposes of navigation.