THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 105 



tersecting each other. An Arabian poem, older than the time of Mo- 

 hammed, compares these paths to the stripes of a parti-colored cloak ; 

 and the Arabian traveller of the present day finds the same resem- 

 blance between the face of the desert and the " many colored coat" of 

 its more opulent inhabitants. 



The foot is composed of two long toes united by and resting upon an 

 elastic cushion with a tough and horny sole or facing. The foot 

 spreads upon touching the ground, somewhat like that of the moose and 

 reindeer, and affords a broader support to the weight of the animal 

 than almost any other quadruped is provided with. The camel, there- 

 fore, sinks less in the sand than any other large animal; but he never- 

 theless instinctively avoids it, as a horse does a puddle, and prefers 

 any other surface except mud, loose rolling pebbles, and sharp pointed 

 rocks.* The sole, though of a horny texture, is sufficiently yiekhng to 

 allow the cushion of the foot to accommodate itself to the inequalities 

 of a rocky surface, t and the camel climbs with facility ascents so steep 

 and rugged, or even so slippery, as to be scaled with difficulty by any 

 other domestic animal. The limestone ledges in the northern portion 

 of the lesser Arabian peninsula are often worn to a glassy smoothness 

 by primitive water currents, or by the attrition of the desert sands, yet 

 the camel traverses them in all directions with entire security. Ob- 

 serving a caravan climb a long ascent of this description in Arabia 

 Petrea, I had the curiosity to measure the inclination of the rock, and 

 found the angle with the horizon to be fifteen degrees. The surface 

 was ever3'wbere almost as slippery as polished marble, and the length 

 of the slope exceeded half a mile ; but the whole caravan of more than 

 fifty camels surmounted it without any accident. The northern slope 

 of the pass of Negabad, on the eastern arm of the Red sea, appears to 

 me even steeper than that I have just described, and the path is as 

 rugged and the zigzags as short as those of almost any of the mule 

 routes over the Alps, but it is constantly crossed by loaded caravans 

 without difficulty. But these are trifles compared with the perform- 

 ances of camels in Algeria, as stated by the French officers. Accord- 

 ing to an official report to the war department of France in 1844, in 

 the expedition to Milianeh, camels carrying burdens of 250 kilogrammes 

 (550 pounds) climbed without accident slopes rising at an angle of 45 

 degrees, and readily traversed every route practicable by mules. | 



This structure of the foot gives the animal a peculiarly noiseless 

 tread. The thunder which at a distance announces the approach of 

 a troop of cavahy, does not herald the advance of a caravan ; and 

 even his rider hears but the faint rustling of the sand or the small peb- 

 bles displaced by the foot, as they roll back to the cavity left by the 

 tracks of the animal. The regularity of his step and their gentle, pur- 

 ling sound, excite a peculiarly drowsy influence in the silence of the 



* Denham and Clapperton's Travels, I, chap. 3, do. p. 169. Pietro della Valle complains 

 that his camel, though tiie freshest and strongest in the caravan, fell in the soft sand "more 

 than seven times in one day." 



fTlie sole seems entirely impenetrable to thorns, and the camel treads with impunity on 

 the strong sharp spines with which the fallen branches of the desert acacias are thickly 

 armed. 



JCarbuccia: Du Dromadaire, pp. 8, 169. 



