98 THE CAMEL. 



rahkala, or dromedary saddle. This is of a con- 

 cave form, with a broad, high back, and elevated 

 pommel, and the rider sits as in a bowl, crossing 

 his legs over the neck of his dromedary, and se- 

 cured on all sides by the support of the saddle. 

 The least pull of the rein upon the nose-ring is 

 so painful to the animal, that he always, pas- 

 sively, moves to the right or left, advances, or 

 steps backward, at the will of his rider. 



" To teach him to kneel when the rider cries 

 sh, sh, sh ! an attendant strikes his knees at the 

 moment the cry is uttered, and until he kneels 

 at the word. His pace is quickened by the whip 

 accompanied with a shrill ejaculation. He is 

 taught to stop suddenly at whatever rate of 

 speed, if his rider falls or leaps from the saddle, 

 and to describe a small circle around a lance 

 which his master plants in the ground, and re- 

 sume the gallop as soon as he plucks it up. 1 

 His training is now complete. He is no longer 

 a colt, but a mahari." 



Although this account is derived from the 

 best sources, it must not be imagined that the 

 common dromedary receives a training by any 

 means so finished, and it is only upon the more 



lu The Bedja camel follows the lance when thrown, that 

 his master may recover it, and if it falls to the ground, he 

 stoops with his hind quarters to allow him to pick it up." 

 Makrizi, as quoted by Burckhardt, Nubia, 458. 



