Note 17 — Chapter VI · CLIMATE OF BUENOS AYRES, AND ITS EFFECTS.
Reading edition
The following letter, received from Buenos Ayres after my own departure, gives an account of one of these visitations. It is dated
"Buenos Ayres, 11th February, 1832
"Yesterday we had another of those awful dust-storms which you have previously witnessed; it came on about a quarter past twelve o'clock. The rapidity of its approach, and awful opacity, alarmed the whole population; in an instant, as it were, there was a transition from the glaring ray of the meridian to the most intense darkness. Immense flocks, or rather one immense flight of birds, immediately preceded it, and, in fact, however incredible it may appear, commenced the obscurity by their numbers.
"The whole time of its duration was eleven minutes and a half, the total darkness eight minutes and a half, by watch, observed by Dr. S. and myself by candlelight; it was accompanied by loud claps of thunder, but not a ray of lightning was visible, although the thunder was by no means distant. After eleven minutes and a half the rain began to fall in very large black drops, which had the effect upon the white walls of making them appear, when the sun again showed itself, as if they had been stained or sprinkled with ink. I never witnessed a more majestic or awful phenomenon. The consternation was general; every one rushing into the nearest house, and all struggling to shut their doors on their neighbours. I have heard as yet of no accidents, although doubtless there must have been many; the wind, of course from S.S.W."