112 THE CAMEL. 



" This," says a writer before quoted, " is the 

 entire harness of the burden camel when, as ia 

 usual in the desert, he is left at liberty. Else- 

 where he is provided with a simple halter, and 

 tied head to tail, in strings, properly of seven 

 animals, the hindermost wearing a bell, in order 

 that the driver who rides the file leader, (or per- 

 haps a donkey, as being a beast of softer pace 

 and easier guidance,) may be advertised of any 

 solution of continuity in the chain by the fainter 

 sound of the accustomed ding-dong." T 



As the camel lies down to receive and dis- 

 charge his burden, he is very quickly and conve- 



1 Tavernier, Voyages, i. 121, saw camels in divisions of 

 seven connected with each other by a rope attached to the 

 pack-saddle, and tied to the nose-ring of the camel following 

 by a small cord made purposely weak, so that if one fell, the 

 cord might break without pulling down another, or tearing his 

 nose. Burckhardt, Nubia, 388, says, that in Nubia and the 

 Hedjar, the camels are made to march in file, because if the 

 load of one of them requires arranging he can be led out of 

 the file, and reloaded before the last of the train has passed, 

 whereas, when they travel in line, the whole caravan must 

 halt if one is obliged to stop. In Egypt, and in the Syrian 

 desert, the caravans^ march in line, and a caravan of 2,000 

 show a front of a mile. There is evidently some mistake in 

 this. A camel, with a pack-saddle, occupies hardly less 

 than six feet of front, and allowing nothing for intervals, a 

 caravan of 2,000 would extend more than two miles. In 

 fact they could not be made to advance in a smaller space 

 than four miles at the least. 



