326 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



v^ards, first on his fore-knees, immediately afterwards on his long 

 hind-legs, and finally on his fore-legs. To the second jerk the 

 novice in camel-riding usually falls a victim, he is hurled out of 

 the saddle and either kisses mother earth or falls on the beast's 

 neck and holds on tightly. The camel is much too ill-humoured 

 to treat this as a joke or an accident. An angry cry bursts from its 

 ugly lips; it flies into a passion with the poor traveller, hanging 

 in a most unenviable position on its neck, and proceeds to shake 

 itself free both of him and his baggage. It takes some time before 

 the traveller from the North learns to bend his body forwards and 

 backwards at the right moment so as to keep his seat as the camel 

 springs up. 



For our own part, we swing ourselves into the saddle with 

 the agility of natives. Urging on our steed with a few strokes of 

 the whip, and keeping it in due check by means of a fine nose-rein, 

 we hasten after the leader. Our camel, a lank, loosely-built, 

 long-legged creature, falls at once into that uniform, persistent, 

 long-stepping, and most effective trot, to which it is trained from 

 earliest youth, and which raises it high above all beasts of burden, 

 and closely follows the leaders. The small head is stretched far 

 in front; the long legs swing quickly backwards and forwards; 

 behind them sand and small stones rise into the air. The burnooses 

 of the riders flutter in the wind; weapons and utensils clatter 

 together; with loud calls we spur on the beasts; the joy of travel 

 seems to give our spirits wings. Soon we overtake the caravan of 

 baggage-camels which had preceded us; soon every trace of human 

 settlement disappears; and on all sides there stretches in apparent 

 infinitude the desert. 



Sharply defined all around, this immense and unique region covers 

 the greater part of North Africa, from the Red Sea to the Atlantic, 

 from the Mediterranean to the Soudan, including whole countries in 

 its range, embracing tracts of fertile land; presenting a thousand 

 varieties, and yet always and everywhere the same in its essential 

 features. In area, this wonderful region is nine or ten times larger 

 than the whole of the German Empire, and three or four times larger 

 than the Mediterranean. No mortal has thoroughly explored or 



