Reading of that hot desert wind in Patrick O'Brian's Treason's Harbour, had a vivid memory of experiencing the thing, in the Red Sea and Suez canal, back in the forties.
The air was filled with dust that gritted between one's teeth. But my real memory is of grains of sand, few and far between, hitting my face and stinging my cheeks.
A long time ago, but a real memory. God it was hot. I haven't stopped sweating since.
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Something else about the Suez canal: it's on dead-flat desert of course, and invisible from any real distance.
So I remember quite large ships apparently sailing slowly through the desert... ships of the desert so to speak, and a bit grander than camels.
Half way along the canal were the 'bitter lakes'. Ship needed a pilot for those, someone who knew the way.
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The dread Simoom - Armel Coussine
