CHAPTER XV. 



NUMBERS OF THE CAMEL — ORIENTAL EXAGGERATION. 



The wealth of all pastoral tribes consists in 

 their cattle, and as in the desert the camel con- 

 tributes in a larger share to supply the wants 

 of the household than any other animal, he is 

 naturally the measure of poverty and affluence. 

 The number of camels required to maintain 

 their possessor in comfort is by no means large. 

 With ten or fewer camels, says Chesney, an 

 Arab is poor ; with thirty or forty, in easy cir- 

 cumstances ; with sixty, rich. Among civilized 

 nations the possession of land is in general a 

 condition precedent to the acquisition of flocks, 

 but in the desert, where all the soil within the 

 purlieus of the tribe is common property, the 

 youth who is ambitious of rising in the world 

 need give himself no trouble to become a free- 

 holder. Of late years, the utflity, price, and 

 profits of the camel, in afl the deserts bordering 

 upon the Mediterranean, have greatly increased, 

 from the demand for his services in transporting 



