450 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABIA. 



over which mats or carpets are spread to screen the tra- 

 veller 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. Th< 

 conveyances are chiefly used for women, who pay gn 

 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 

 Mesopotamia 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 artillery. 

 The first thing that a Bedouin 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 abi- 

 lity for exertion, for whenever it subsides the beast gra- 

 dually 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 re- 

 pose. The favourite pace of the riding-camel is a kind 

 of gentle and easy amble at the rate of 5 or 5^ miles an 

 hour; and this speed the more robust will continue for 

 six days in succession. " His back is so soft," an Arab 

 will say in commendation 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 Egypt and 

 Nubia called oshari, implying a camel that could travel 

 ten days' journey in one ; but these exploits he consider- 

 ed to be inventions of the Bedouins to amuse credulous 

 strangers. The greatest feat of this kind that ever came 

 to his knowledge was that of a camel which was to go for 

 a wager from Esneh to Genne and back again between sun- 

 rise and sunset; the whole distance being equal to 130 

 miles. In eleven hours its strength failed, after having 

 finished about 115 miles, and lost twenty minutes in twice 

 crossing the Nile in a ferry-boat ; but had it not been urged 



