408 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABIA. 



and in the equipping of this article the Arab women on all 

 occasions make a great display. In Hejaz, they use a kind 

 of palanquin named skcbriah, having a seat made of twisted 

 straw, about five feet in length, placed across the saddle, 

 with cross-bars above, over which mats or carpets are spread 

 to screen the traveller from the sun. Similar machines, but 

 shorter and narrower, are occasionally suspended lengthwise 

 on each side of the animal : these are called shekdef, and 

 contain one person each ; but they do not admit of his 

 stretching himself at full length, as in the other vehicle. 

 These conveyances are chiefly used for women, who pay 

 great attention to fashion and etiquette in their equipage-. 

 A lady of the Aenezes prefers a white or a gray camel, while 

 a belle in the Nejed would think herself degraded were she- 

 to ride any other than a black one. In Syria and Mesopota- 

 mia the Arabs are in the practice of mounting their saddles 

 with small swivel-guns, which turn upon the pommel and are 

 found to be as serviceable in the way of inspiring terror as 

 the heaviest pieces of artiller}'. The first thing that a Be- 

 douin examines about his camel when preparing for a long 

 journey is the hump. Should he find it large, he knows that 

 the animal will endure considerable fatigue, even with a very 

 moderate allowance of food ; for he believes in the proverb, 

 that " the camel can subsist for one expedition on the fat of 

 its own hump !" This index is indeed an infallible criterion 

 as to the ability for exertion, for whenever it subsides the 

 beast gradually yields to fatigue. A long journey will cause 

 the hump almost entirely to disappear : it is easily restored,, 

 however, by a few weeks of good nourishment and repose. 

 The favourite pace of the riding-camel is a kind of gentle 

 and easv amble at the rate of 5 or 5^ miles an hour ; arid this 

 speed the more robust will continue for six days in succes- 

 sion. " His back is so soft," an Arab will say in commenda- 

 tion of this agreeable trot, " that you may drink a cup of 

 coffee while you ride him." 



Many stories were related to Burckhardt concerning the 

 wonderful performances of a breed in Eg}'pt and Nubia called 

 oshari, implying a camel that could travel ten days' journey 

 in one ; but these exploits he considered to be inventions of 

 the Bedouins to amuse credulous strangers. The greatest 

 feat of this kind that ever came to his knowledge was that 

 cf a camel which was to go for a wager from Esneh to Genne 



