THE CAMEL. 113 



error to suppose them very abundant in^ that country. In the 

 sacred writings and down to the time of Mohammed, they are 

 seldom mentioned, camels being mostly used both in their 

 predatory and warlike excursions. The breed is limited to the 

 fertile pasture grounds, and it is there that they thrive, while 

 the Bedouins who occupy arid districts rarely have any. 



In the sands of Arabia the camel is a sacred and precious 

 gift. That strong and patient beast of burthen not only 

 supplies the wandering Arab with the greater part of his 

 simple wants : it serves also to secure his immemorial in- 

 dependence by placing the desert between the enemy and 

 himself. Thus the Bedouin has ever been indomitable, and 

 while in other parts of the world we find that the fatal posses- 

 sion of an animal — the sable, the sea-otter — has entailed the 

 curse of slavery upon whole nations, the dromedary in Arabia 

 appears as the instrument of lasting freedom. With temporary 

 or local exceptions, the body of the nation has escaped the yoke 

 of the most powerful monarchies ; the arms of Sesostris an^ 

 Cyrus, of Pompey and Trajan, could never achieve the conquest 

 of Arabia, and while the false glory of the scourges of mankind 

 that have so often thrown the East into bondage has passed 

 away like a fleeting shadow, one century after another bears 

 testimony to the noble independence of the Arab. The 

 manly spirit of this energetic race renders them worthy of the 

 freedom they enjoy under the protection of their arid wastes. 

 Many ages before Mohammed, who, stimulating their valour 

 by fanaticism, made them one of the great conquering na- 

 tions of the earth, their intrepidity had been severely felt 

 by their neighbours. ' The patient and active virtues of 

 a soldier,' says Gibbon, ' are insensibly nursed in the habits 

 and discipline of pastoral life. The care of the sheep and 

 camels is abandoned to the women of the tribe, but the 

 martial youth, under the banner of the emir, is ever on horse- 

 back and in the field, to practise the exercise of the bow, the 

 javelin, and the scymetar. The long memory of their indepen- 

 dence is the firmest pledge of its perpetuity, and succeeding 

 generations are animated to prove their descent and to maintain 

 their inheritance. When they advance- to battle, the hope of 

 victory is in the front ; in the rear, the assurance of a retreat. 

 Their horses and camels, who in eight or ten days can perform 



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