CAMEL AND DROMEDARY. 185 



hollow, round which high stony banks appeared as if worn 

 or washed by water at some unknown period. It was 

 about one hundred feet below the surface of the desert, 

 and from three hundred and fifty to four hundred above 

 the ancient bed of this dry river. The extraordinary in- 

 stinct of the camel must have first led to the discovery of 

 the well, as not the least indication was perceptible of its 

 having overflowed its banks. The Arab merchants knew 

 of its existence, and whereabout it lay; yet, though they 

 halted near the spot, nearly an hour elapsed before Abdal- 

 lah discovered it. They then drove their camels up the 

 bank by a winding path, from which huge masses of bro- 

 ken rock had been apparently removed with great toil and 

 labor; when arrived to about fifty yards below the sweet 

 cool spring, water was brought them in a large bowl. 

 "And here," says the narrator, "I ascertained the quan- 

 tity which a camel could swallow at once. A large goat- 

 skin was filled at least fifteen times, and every drop of this 

 was drunk by our largest camel, amounting to the enor- 

 mous quantity of sixty gallons, the men meanwhile crying 

 out, ' Has not that camel done yet? he will drink the 

 well dry.' It was in effect drained very low, but still 

 held out, as the water kept running in, though slowly. 

 This camel was large and old, about nine feet high, and 

 had not drunk any water for twenty da} T s, as I was in- 

 formed by Sidi Hamet, but the others did not drink as 

 much in proportion." 



" Abdallah then called to me," continued Captain Riley, 

 " for I was below, and bade me come up where he*was, at 

 the foot of a perpendicular cliff. I clambered over the frag- 

 ments of great rocks which had fallen down from above, as 

 fast as my strength would permit, and having reached the 

 spot, and seeing no signs of water, the tears flowed down 

 my cheeks, for I concluded that the spring was dried up 

 and we must aU perish. ' Look,' said the good natured 

 Arab I looked and saw water glistening through a fissure 



