46 THE CAMEL. 



hardt l observes : " It is an erroneous opinion, 

 that the camel delights in sandy ground. It 

 is true, that he crosses it with less difficulty 

 than any other animal, but wherever the sands 

 are deep, the weight of himself and his load 

 makes his feet sink into them at every step, and 

 he groans and often sinks under his burden." 

 Denham and Clapperton say their camels some- 

 times sank almost knee-deep in the loose sand, 

 and that, in descending steep sand-hills, they 

 were so helpless as to require their drivers to sup- 

 port them and keep them from falling forwards 

 by holding them back by the tail. 2 



The sole, though of a horny texture, is suffi- 

 ciently yielding to allow the cushion of the foot 

 to accommodate itself to the inequalities of a 

 rocky surface, 3 and the camel climbs with facility 

 ascents so steep and rugged, or even so slippery, 

 as to be scaled with difficulty by any other 

 domestic animal. The limestone ledges in the 

 northern portion of the lesser Arabian peninsula 



1 Syria, 622. 



2 Denham and Clapperton's Travels, I. chap. 3, do. p. 169. 

 Pietro della Valle complains that his camel, though the 

 freshest and strongest in the caravan, fell in the soft sand 

 " more than seven times in one day." 



3 The sole seems entirely impenetrable to thorns, and the 

 camel treads with impunity on the strong sharp spines with 

 which the fallen branches of the desert acacias are thickly 

 armed. 



