134 THE CAMEL. 



head, or rear and throw you over his tail, or shy 

 out from under you at the sight of an old woman 

 or the bow of a country school-boy, or take the 

 bit in his teeth and run to Quoddy with you, at 

 the report of a caliver ' or the nutter of a sheep- 

 skin ; but nevertheless, with a full sense of my 

 responsibilities, I do take it upon me to deny the 

 boast of some, that they can use a telescope, read 

 write, and cipher, sew, knit, darn stockings, and 

 even draw, a-camelback. The motion of the 

 beast is a compound of rolling and pitching sim- 

 ultaneously executed, and much resembles that 

 of a very short ' dug out ' with a strong, rough 

 current abeam, and a sharp heavy swell fore- and 

 aft. The elder Pliny, who read and dictated 

 not only in his chariot, but even while sham- 

 pooing, would have been compelled to intermit 

 his lucubrations during a promenade a chameau; 

 and though the Arab will hang like a sack across 

 the pack-saddle, or stretch himself from stem to 

 stern along the load, and sleep as securely as a 

 bear in a hollow log, or a sailor in the main-top, 

 the most you can accomplish, fair madam, will 

 be to look about you, which you can do to good- 

 purpose, while your hands are as useless as if 

 they were tied to the cross-head of a mill- 

 saw." 



Every oriental traveller can testify that the 

 Arabs often sleep upon their camels when on the 



