THE FOOT. 51 



passes over it without much risk ; and I have 

 repeatedly seen caravans travel at their ordinary 

 pace and with entire confidence and security 

 over pavements covered with several inches of 

 snow and soft mud. 



The camel readily fords rivers with gravelly 

 or pebbly bottoms. Tavernier remarks, that be- 

 tween Alexandretta and Baias, where the road 

 runs along the sea-shore, the camels are obliged 

 in many places to pass through the water around 

 projecting points, and I have seen them wade 

 around headlands in the Red Sea, in water three 

 or four feet deep ; but the passage of streams 

 with soft bottoms, or with deep water, by camels, 

 is always a matter of some difficulty. It is 

 not easy to train them to enter a ferry-boat, or to 

 lie quietly in crossing rivers by this mode of con- 

 veyance ; and though they float readily, yet they 

 are bad swimmers, the roundness of the barrel 

 and the height of the head and hump above the 

 line of flotation exposing them constantly to the 

 danger of losing their balance and rolling over 

 upon the side, in which case they are sure to be 

 lost. For this reason it is common to lash the 

 head to the gunwale of a boat, or to support it 

 by some other contrivance in crossing deep wa- 

 ters. Denham and Clapperton saw them guided 

 in crossing rivers, by a man swimming before 

 them and holding the halter in his teeth, and 



