HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 151 



this useful animal, no person could pursue him 

 amidst sandy deserts, where nothing presents itself 

 to the eye but one uniform void, naked and solitary. 



The Arabian regards the Camel as the most 

 precious gift of Heaven ; by the assistance of which 

 he is enabled to subsist in those frightful intervals 

 of Nature, which serve him for an asylum, and 

 secure his independence. 



But it is not to the plundering Arab alone that 

 the services of this useful quadruped are confined: 

 in Turkey, Persia, Barbary, and Egypt, every 

 article of merchandise is carried by Camels. Mer- 

 chants and travellers unite together, and form 

 themselves into numerous bodies, called caravans, to 

 prevent the insults of the Arabs. One of these 

 caravans frequently consists of many thousands : 

 the Camels are always more numerous than the 

 men. Each Camel is loaded in proportion to its 

 strength. At the command of their conductor, they 

 lie down on their belly, with their legs folded under 

 them, and in this posture receive their burdens. 

 As soon as they are loaded, they rise of their own 

 accord, and will not suffer any greater weight to be 

 imposed upon them than they can bear with ease ; 

 when overloaded, they set up the most pitious cries, 

 till part of the burden be taken off. The common 

 load of the Camel is from three to four hundred 

 weight ; and the medium of the expence of the con- 

 veyance for each hundred appears to be about one 

 farthing per mile. The usual rate of travelling is 

 three miles in the hour ; and the number of hours 

 that are actually employed on the route, exclusive of 

 those allotted to refreshment is seldom more than 

 seven or eight in a day. Of the number of days 

 which are consumed in a long journey, many are 



