100 THE CAMEL. 



well as the Bedouins who border upon the valley 

 of the Nile, often deal very harshly with them. 

 Speaking of the latter people, St. John, in his 

 narrative of his visit to the oasis of Siwah, says : 

 " The Bedouin has no affection for his camel. 

 He starves him on principle, to accustom him to 

 it, and maltreats and neglects him." Indeed, the 

 expression of anxiety and often terror, which the 

 camel assumes upon being approached, seems to 

 indicate an expectation of ill-treatment, and a 

 consciousness of the inability to resist or resent 

 it ; but there is certainly little in his ordinary 

 treatment by the desert tribes to warrant his 

 timid apprehensions. 



The camel displays no inconsiderable sagacity. 

 He detects springs in localities where they have 

 not before been known to exist, and tradition 

 affirms that even the holy fountain Zemzem was 

 not revealed to man, but discovered by a stray 

 camel. Upon frequented routes, the drivers leave 

 them to their own guidance, sleeping the while, 

 and if by any chance the track is lost, the whole 

 troop is soon in a state of alarm and confusion. It 

 is even said that when the caravan is led astray by 

 the ignorance of the guides, the camels are soon 

 aware of it and become quite ungovernable with 

 terror. 



It is a popular belief that the camel has a 

 musical ear, and it is said that the drivers in 



