134 THE CAMEL. 



head, or rear and throw you over his tail, or shy- 

 out from under you at the sight of an old woman 

 or the bow of a country school-boy, or take the 

 bit in his teeth and run to Quoddy with you, at 

 the ' report of a caliver ' or the flutter of a sheep- 

 skin ; but nevertheless, with a full sense of my 

 responsibilities, I do take it upon me to deny the 

 boast of some, that they can use a telescope, read 

 write, and cipher, sew, knit, darn stockings, and 

 even draw, a-camelback. The motion of the 

 beast is a compound of rolling and pitching sim- 

 ultaneously executed, and much resembles that 

 of a very short ' dug out ' with a strong, rough 

 current abeam, and a sharp heavy swell fore and 

 aft. The elder Pliny, who read and dictated 

 not only in his chariot, but even while sham- 

 pooing^ would have been compelled to intermit 

 his lucubrations during a promenade a chamecm; 

 and though the Arab will hang like a sack across 

 the pack-saddle, or stretch himself from stem to 

 stern along the load, and sleep as securely as a 

 bear in a hollow log, or a sailor in the main-top, 

 the most you can accomplish, fair madam, will 

 be to look about you, which you can do to good 

 purpose, while your hands are as useless as if 

 they were tied to the cross-head of a mill- 

 saw." 



Every oriental traveller can testify that the 

 Arabs often sleep upon their camels when on the 



