THE CARAVAN. 139 



three, four, or more deep, and, though occasion- 

 ally intersecting, running in the main parallel to 

 each other at the distance of two or three yards 

 apart. An Arabian poem, older than the time of 

 Mohammed, compares these paths to the stripes 

 of a parti-colored cloak ; and the Arabian trav- 

 eller of the present day finds the same resem- 

 blance between the face of the desert and the 

 ' many-colored coat ' of its more opulent inhabi- 

 tants. In these paths, the camels walk usually 

 pretty nearly abreast if not too numerous, and 

 those which have been bred together are inclined 

 to keep near each other. Where there is pastur- 

 age, they scatter widely, and a company of fifty 

 camels in a broad wady will frequently extend 

 themselves to a front of a mile or more. They 

 are however very reluctant to lose sight of the 

 main body, and, as has been before noticed, it is 

 difficult to stop one of these animals before the 

 time of encamping, and while the rest of the 

 caravan is upon the march. Notwithstanding 

 this gregarious propensity, it is not easy to keep 

 two camels in a caravan side by side, so as to 

 allow much conversation between their riders. 

 Some difference in gait, the temptations of a 

 camel-thorn or a thistle, or the crowding of other 

 animals, are constantly interfering to break up 

 your tete-d-tete, and you finally surrender your- 

 self to a silence well befitting the solitude and 



