BURDEN AND FURNITURE. 107 



den he can carry ; but it would hardly be a safe 

 test in a mountainous country, or on ground 

 otherwise unfavorable. We shall probably not 

 err widely in assuming from five to seven hun- 

 dred pounds as a general average of the camel's 

 burden, according to the weight of the animal, 

 the smoothness or ruggedness of the route, and 

 the distance to be travelled ; and with the small- 

 est of these loads good animals would easily 

 surmount any mountain passes practicable to 

 other beasts of burden. The weight of the 

 pack-saddle, which is considerable, is excluded 

 in these estimates. Although the camel of both 

 species may be said to be most generally used 

 as a beast of burden, yet the Arabian some- 

 times, and the Bactrian often, are employed for 

 draught. Athenaeus, 1 mentions six double spans 

 of camels as figuring in a ceremonial procession 

 of one of the Ptolemies, at Alexandria. Seet- 

 zen 2 saw a single camel harnessed to the 

 plough, near Hebron, drawing by the shoulder, 

 and Minutoli represents the animal as employed 

 for the same purpose in Egypt, as, according to 

 Chesney and Colonel Tod, he is also in Afghan- 

 istan and Sinde. I have seen them drawing 

 large stones upon wheels in Egypt, and Me- 

 hemet Ali and others have used them for trans- 

 porting heavy ordnance. These were all of the 



1 L. v. c. 32. 2 Reisen in. 31. 



