THE FOOT. 47 



are often worn to a glassy smoothness by primi- 

 tive water currents, or by the attrition of the 

 desert sands, yet the camel traverses them in all 

 directions with entire security. Observing a 

 caravan climb a long ascent of this description 

 in Arabia Petrsea, I had the curiosity to measure 

 the inclination of the rock, and found the angle 

 with the horizon to be fifteen degrees. The 

 surface was everywhere almost as slippery as 

 polished marble, and the length of the slope 

 exceeded half a mile ; but the whole caravan of 

 more than fifty camels surmounted it without 

 any accident. The northern slope of the pass 

 of Negabad, on the eastern arm of the Red Sea, 

 appears to me even steeper than that I have just 

 described, and the path is as rugged and the zig- 

 zags as short as those of almost any of th mule 

 routes over the Alps, but it is constantly crossed 

 by loaded caravans without difficulty. But these 

 are trifles compared with the performances of 

 camels in Algeria, as stated by the French offi- 

 cers. According to an official report to the war 

 department of France in 1844, in the expedition 

 to Milianeh, camels carrying burdens of 250 

 kilogrammes (550 pounds) climbed without ac- 

 cident slopes rising at an angle of forty-five de- 

 grees, and readily traversed every route practica- 

 ble by mules. 1 



1 Carbuccia, Du Dromadaire, pp. 8, 169. 



