52 THE CAMEL. 



they observe that the camel of the Sahara is 

 often seized with illness after swimming, and 

 dies in a few hours. Lyon says their drivers 

 hold up their heads in the water by the upper 

 lip, and that sometimes a man sits behind the 

 hump, to depress the croup, and elevate the head. 

 Burckhardt mentions the practice of tying in- 

 flated goat-skins to their necks to aid them in 

 swimming. 



But although Father Hue, whose lively imag- 

 ination serves to magnify all things, encountered 

 almost insurmountable difficulties in crossing 

 streams with Tartar camels, it appears that the 

 Bactrian finds the frigid and bridgeless rivers of 

 Siberia no very serious obstacles to his progress. 



Pallas saw Bactrian camels used " as leaders," 

 in the conveyance of the post and of travellers 

 through half-frozen morasses near Lake Baikal, 

 and he observes that they ford the most rapid 

 torrents. An older traveller, Yobrand Ides, de- 

 scribes them as loth to enter a torrent, but says, 

 that if they are swept off their legs by the vio- 

 lence of the current, " no creature swims more 

 easily." It appears, however, by his account, 

 that it is rather floating than swimming, for he 

 states that the animal makes little voluntary 

 effort, and his movements are wholly directed 

 by his driver, who swims before and guides the 

 train by the halter. 



