140 THE CAMEL. 



the solemn aspect of nature around you. The 

 regular and noiseless tread of the camel, and the 

 faint rustling of the sand, as it rolls back to the 

 cavity left by the foot of the animal, shed a 

 drowsy influence on your reveries ; your day- 

 dreams melt into slumberous visions ; you waver 

 in your seat, and it is rather an instinctive impulse 

 than a conscious effort, that braces you in your 

 saddle, and saves you from a disastrous fall." 



The Arabs habitually travel much by night, 

 and this not, as has been supposed, for the sake 

 of the guidance of the stars, which they seldom 

 need, but partly to avoid the greater heat of the 

 day, and more especially to allow the camel, 

 which never feeds by night, the daylight for 

 gathering his food. By travelling a part of the 

 night, too, they can make a long march, and yet 

 arrive at the proposed station by daylight, and 

 thus avoid the inconvenience of pitching the 

 camp, collecting fuel and water, and cooking 

 their evening meal, in the dark. It is common 

 to start from midnight to two o'clock, and to 

 march, without halting, ten, fifteen, or sometimes 

 twenty hours, after which the camp is formed; 

 and if it is not yet dark, the camels are turned 

 out to graze till sunset, when they return to the 

 camp, are hobbled, by tying up one of the folded 

 fore legs, and ruminate and sleep to the hour of 

 departure. Although so long a day's journey 



