SPEED AND GAIT. 129 



distanced by the dromedary on the gallop," and 

 again p. 129, " they gallop well, and there is no 

 soldier who has not seen horsemen pursue them 

 at full speed without overtaking them." Jomard, 

 in the appendix before quoted, says, " the swiftest 

 horses are outstripped at last by the dromedary, 

 which, starting with a long trot, equals the speed 

 of the horse, and finally comes up with him." 

 Bergmann, as quoted by Hitter, 1 speaking ap- 

 parently of the Bactrian of the Calmucks, states, 

 that when they are galloping, entirely at liberty, 

 no horseman can overtake them. Burckhardt, 

 on the contrary, 2 declares that the speed of the 

 dromedary never approaches, even for short dis- 

 tances, that of the common horse, and that he 

 cannot maintain his swiftest pace for more than 

 half an hour. When we consider that this 

 traveller was familiar with the Berber dromeda- 

 ries and with those of Nedjd, which are acknowl- 

 edged to be the swiftest breeds, and especially 

 when we compare the structure and habitual 

 movements of the two animals, we can scarcely 

 fail to conclude that his testimony is worthy of 

 more confidence than the conflicting evidence I 

 have cited. I witnessed a dromedary race at the 

 camp of an Arab Sheikh in the Sinaitic pen- 

 insula. About a dozen animals, mostly young, 



1 Erdkunde, xm. 692. 



2 Bedouins, 263. 



