THE ONE-HUMPED CAMEL. 451 



from injury against the ground. In the whole structure of the 

 camel there is a most especial adaptation of the animal to 

 its arid region, and to those services which man there requires 

 of it, and without which, as it has been observed, the inter- 

 course of mankind in the East would have been confined to 

 small spots where abundance reigned ; the commodities of one 

 part of Asia could not have been exchanged for those of 

 another 5 commerce, the great moving principle in the extension 

 of civilization, would have been unknown; and knowledge 

 would have been limited to particular districts, and would 

 there have been of the most stunted and feeble growth. 

 "The camel's feet are formed to tread lightly on a dry and 

 shifting soil 5 its nostrils have the capacity of closing to exclude 

 the sand, when the whirlwind scatters it over the desert ; it is 

 provided with a peculiar apparatus for retaining water in its 

 stomach, so that it can march from well to well without great 

 inconvenience, although they be some hundred miles apart. 

 And thus, when a company of Eastern merchants cross from 

 Aleppo to Bussorah, over a plain of sand, which offers no 

 refreshment to the exhausted senses, the whole journey being 

 about eight hundred miles, the camel of the heavy caravan 

 moves cheerfully along, with a burden of six or seven hun- 

 dred weight, at the rate of twenty miles a day -, while those of 

 greater speed, that carry a man, without much other load, go 

 forward at double that pace and daily distance. Patient under 

 his duties, he kneels down at the command of his driver, and 

 rises up cheerfully with his load ; he requires no whip or spur 

 during his monotonous march, but when fatigued, his driver 

 sings to him some cheering snatch of his Arabian melodies, 

 and the creature, evidently delighted with the musical sounds, 

 toils forward with a brisker step, till the hour of rest arrives, 

 when he again kneels down, to be disburdened for a little 

 while j and if the stock of food be not exhausted, he is further 

 rewarded with a few mouthful s of the barley-cake, which he 

 carries for the sustenance of his master and himself. Under 

 a burning sun, upon an arid soil, enduring great fatigue, some- 



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