192 CAMEL AND DROMEDARY. 



vored to follow its footsteps, but could only move a few 

 yards. He fell exhausted on the ground, and was about 

 to breathe his last, when Providence led that way, from 

 a neighboring encampment, Bisharye Bedouin, who, by 

 throwing water upon the man's face, restored him to his 

 senses. They then went hastily together to the water, 

 filled the skins, and returning to the caravan, had the 

 geod fortune to find the sufferers still alive. The Bisharye 

 received a slave for his trouble. My informer, a native 

 of Yembo, in Arabia, was the man whose camel discov- 

 ered the spring ; and he added the remarkable circum , 

 stance, that the youngest slaves bore the thirst better than 

 the rest, and that, while the grown up boys all died, the 

 children reached Egypt in safety." 



Before we dismiss the consideration of the habits and 

 character of the camel, we may, for a moment, direct our 

 views to the aborigines of his native regions. The natural 

 history of this valuable quadruped is so intimately blended 

 with that of his Arab masters, their sterile district, and 

 wandering life, that we cannot pursue the one without 

 referring to the other. 



As Riley and his companions proceeded on the flat hard 

 surface, they met from time to time with small dells or 

 valleys scooped out by the hand of nature from ten to 

 thirty feet below the plain, and containing from one to four 

 acres each. Their parched sides were varied with dwarf 

 thorn bushes, green and cheermg to the eye, but so 

 strongly impregnated with salt, that, though the travellers 

 were nearly perishing with thirst and hunger, it was im- 

 possible to eat them. These hollows served, apparently, 

 as receptacles for the little rain that falls occasionally on 

 the desert, for the wandering Arabs always expect some 

 during the winter months, though they are frequently dis- 

 appointed ; but over that portion of the desert, which 

 Captain Riley and his companions passed, none had fallen 

 for two years. 



