166 THE CAMEL. 



parried, in tierce, in carte, and in sundry other 

 curves not hitherto investigated by mathemati- 

 cians, or the masters of the noble science of 

 defence, until my friend of the short sword re- 

 ceived a sufficient flesh wound in the leg, (alas ! 

 not mortal,) whereupon certain officious and 

 pragmatical reformers then and there present in- 

 terfered, and separated the doughty paladins, to 

 the great scandal of sundry old Bedouins of the 

 camp, who, one and all, declared that this un- 

 called for intervention was a most unwarranta- 

 ble infraction of the ancient laws of honorable 

 warfare, as understood and practised from time 

 immemorial among the sons of Ishmael." 



In spite of the apparent difficulty of procur- 

 ing sustenance for large herds in parched cli- 

 mates and barren soils, the number of camels 

 employed by the governments and the popula- 

 tion of Egypt and other Mussulman countries, 

 is incredibly great, and the wandering tribes 

 who occupy regions of comparatively abundant 

 pasturage, possess vast herds of them. On the 

 road between Cairo and Suez you meet many 

 hundreds every day, and the whole Hadj route 

 from Suez to Mecca is strown with their skele- 

 tons. I was told at Osioot, that a caravan from 

 Sennaar, which had lately arrived at that place, 

 consisted of six thousand camels. The Mecca 

 pilgrim caravan from Cairo, though in these 



