420 THE CAMEL 



shadow, one century after another looks down from the heights 

 of Sinai upon the free and unfettered sons of Ismael. 



But the Arab too often tarnishes his liberty by crime, and 

 degrades the "ship of the desert" to be the accomplice of a 

 robber. The Bedouin anxious to pursue this base profession 

 inures himself, from an early age, to every fatigue, banishes 

 sleep, patiently endures thirst, hunger, and heat ; and in the 

 same manner accustoms his dromedary to every privation. A 

 few days after the animal's birth he folds its legs under its body, 

 forces it to kneel; and loads it with a weight which is gradually 

 increased as it increases in strength. Instead of allowing it to 

 seek its food whenever it pleases, or completely to satisfy its 

 thirst, he accustoms it to perform longer and longer journeys 

 without eating or drinking, trains it to equal the horse in swift- 

 ness, as it surpasses him in strength — and when perfectly 

 assured of its fleetness and endurance, loads it with the neces- 

 sary provisions, rides away upon its back, waylays the traveller, 

 plunders the secluded dwelling, and when pursued and forced 

 to save his booty by a speedy flight, then shows what he 

 and his dromedary can perform. Hurrying on day and night, 

 almost without repose, or eating or drinking, he travels two 

 hundred leagues in a week, and during this whole time his 

 dromedary is allowed but one hour's rest a day, and a handful 

 of meal for food. On this meagre diet the unwearied animal 

 often speeds on seven or eight days without finding any water, 

 and when by chance a pool or a source lies on his way, he 

 smells it at the distance of half a league, his burning thirst 

 imparts new vigour to his speed, and he then drinks at once 

 both for the past and the future, as his journeys often last several 

 weeks, and his privations endure as long as his journeys ! 



While the Bactrian Camel with a double hump ranges 

 from Turkestan to China, the single- 

 hump camel or dromedary, originally 

 Arabian, has spread in opposite 

 directions towards the East Indies, 

 the Mediterranean, and the Niger, 

 and is used in Syria, Egypt, Persia, 

 and Barbary, as the commonest 

 Bftct nan Camel. bcast of burden. It serves the 



robber, but it serves also the peaceful merchant, or the 



i 



