106 ARABIAN CAMEL OR DROMEDARY. 



to kneel and receive their burdens, and are generally 

 of a mild and submissive disposition, decile and pa- 

 tient, but obstinate when overloaded often re- 

 fusing to rise if their burden is felt to be beyond 

 their strength. The strong dromedary for burden, 

 will carry 1200 pounds weight for a journey with 

 the caravans across the deserts, and this at the 

 rate of from fifteen to twenty-five miles in the 

 twenty-four hours ; and in cases of extremity, fifty 

 miles of the desert have been traversed by the Arab 

 in the same period of time ; but this, while it places 

 him in safety, and out of the reach from any one 

 not provided with a similar conveyance, could not 

 be kept up, and the scanty supply afforded by the 

 produce of the country passed over, would soon fail 

 to maintain the strength of the animal. 



These caravans or travelling parties, are most fre- 

 quently of the most motley description, consisting of 

 merchants from various countries, exhibiting the 

 variety of costume and manners incident to each, 

 and the accompaniments are generally composed of 

 persons who have chosen this escort for their safety 

 across the desert, with a rear of followers who have 

 also chosen the escort for safety, but join to this the 

 hope of plunder, or of a scanty charity by the way. 

 At other times, however, some of these expeditions 

 are more regular ; and it appears that the camels can 

 be trained to obey orders like the discipline of a troop 

 of horse. In the continuation of Clapperton's Jour- 

 nal by Lander, we are told of the arrival of 500 ca* 



