124 THE CAMEL. 



of the fleetness of the mahari are no doubt fables, 

 and one may well question whether Jackson's 

 story of the dromedary that bore his master on 

 an errand of love from Morocco to Mogador and 

 back, a distance of two hundred miles, in a 

 single day, is not exaggerated. But the nu- 

 merous well-authenticated evidences of this ani- 

 mal's great speed and power of endurance, leave 

 no doubt that in the union of these two qualities 

 he far surpasses the horse, as well as all other 

 domestic quadrupeds. 



Mehemet Ali, when hastening to his capital 

 to accomplish the destruction of the Mamelukes, 

 rode without changing his camel, from Suez to 

 Cairo, a distance of eighty-four miles, in twelve 

 hours. A French officer in the service of the 

 Pacha, repeated the same feat in thirteen hours, 

 and two gentlemen of my acquaintance have 

 performed it in less than seventeen. Laborde 

 travelled the distance in the same time, and af- 

 terwards rode the same dromedary from a point 

 opposite Cairo to Alexandria, a distance of about 

 one hundred and fifty miles, in thirty- four hours. 

 But the most extraordinary well-authenticated 

 performance of the dromedary is that recorded 

 by the accurate Burckhardt in his Travels. 1 

 The owner of a fine dromedary laid a wager 

 that he would ride the animal from Esneh 

 to Keneh, and back, a distance of one hundred 

 1 Nubia, 262. 



