316 . SOCIAL STATE OF THE ARABS. 



Their powers of vision and of hearing improve by 

 continual exercise ; and on their vast plains they 

 can descry distant objects far beyond the ken of a 

 less practised eye. Their sense of smelhng, too, is 

 extremely nice ; hence their dislike to houses and 

 towns, where they are disgusted with the nauseous 

 exhalations which dense collections of people always 

 generate. One of the most singular faculties they 

 possess is the athr, or the power of distinguishing 

 the footsteps of men and beasts on the sand, in the 

 same manner as the American Indians discover im- 

 pressions made upon the grass. This art is carried 

 to a perfection that appears almost supernatural. 

 From inspecting the footstep an Arab can tell whe- 

 ther the individual belonged to his own or some 

 neighbouring tribe, and thus he is able to judge if 

 he be a stranger or a friend. He likewise knows 

 from the faintness or depth of the impression whe- 

 ther the person carried a load or not ; whether he 

 passed the same day or several days before. From 

 examining the intervals between the steps, he judges 

 whether or not he was fatigued, as the pace becomes 

 then more irregular and the intervals unequal ; 

 hence he calculates the chances of overtaking him. 

 Every Arab can distinguish the footmarks of his 

 own camels from those of his neighbours ; he knows 

 whether the animal was pasturing or loaded, or 

 mounted by one or more persons ; and can often 

 discover, from marks in the sand, certain defects or 

 peculiarities of formation that serve him as a clew 

 to ascertain the owner. This sagacity becomes 

 extremely useful in the pursuit of fugitives, or in 

 searching after stolen cattle. Instances occur of 

 camels being traced by their masters to the residence 

 of the thief, at the distance of five or six days' jour- 

 ney. A Bedouin shepherd can track his own camel 

 in a sandy valley where thousands of other foot- 

 steps cross the road in all directions, and sometimes 

 he can tell the name of every one that has passed 



