92 THE CAMEL. 



season^ than in the cases cited from Burckhardt 

 and Denham and Clapperton. I have myself 

 witnessed in Arabia Petrsea an instance of com- 

 plete privation for four days, in very hot weather 

 and with dry fodder, but I have always observed 

 that in the summer, the camel, like the Bedouin, 

 drinks as often as he has the opportunity. In 

 most countries where the animal is used, it is 

 said he can dispense with drinking twice as long 

 as the horse under the same circumstances ; and 

 this I doubt not is a very near general approx- 

 imation to the truth. These facts, however 

 wonderful, are by no means so extraordinary 

 or incredible as they may at first sight appear. 

 The animals of the deer and antelope tribes 

 which inhabit the Sahara often pass many weeks 

 together in the heat of summer, in the most 

 parched districts of the great Libyan Desert, with- 

 out possibility of access to any known supply of 

 water, and they probably possess powers of 

 abstinence at least equal if not superior to those 

 of the camel. The domestic ox, when supplied 

 with abundance of green fodder, seldom inclines 

 to drink. Persons familiar with sheep husbandry 

 know that in rich pastures that animal thrives 

 very well for many weeks in the hottest sum- 

 mers, without any water but that which falls in 

 the shape of dew. If I mistake not. Captain 

 Stansbury's mules travelled two whole days 



