THE ONE-HUMPED CAMEL. 453 



the foal has either strength to stand up, or that the mother 

 stoops to it. 



In Buckingham's Travels in Mesopotamia (1827), it is stated 

 that the Yezeedis, a people who live in the mountains of Singar, 

 and pasture their camels upon the Southern Desert, feed chiefly 

 upon the milk, and sometimes upon .the raw flesh of these 

 animals. In Pocock's Travels, it is said that the Turks esteem 

 the flesh of the young as delicate meat ; but that the Arabs do 

 not kill the camel for food. Mr. Wilkinson, however, says that 

 during a grand festival which took place among the Arabs in 

 the eastern desert of Upper Egypt, a camel was killed, part of 

 it was eaten on the occasion, and the rest dried in the sun. 

 The Bisharye Bedouins, a savage people, consider its raw 

 marrow their greatest luxury. The manufacture of the camel's 

 hair into garments and tents, is the only employment which 

 gives a variety to the pastoral life of the Arabs of the African 

 desert. When the hair has been spun upon a hand-spindle and 

 a place of pasturage found, they weave the yarn into stuff by 

 a process at once simple and tedious, every thread being 

 taken up by a distinct effort of the needle, instead of each 

 alternate thread being raised by treadles. 



THE DROMEDARY, OR EL HERIE. 



It has already been intimated that dromedary is not a 

 specific term (see page 449). The swiftness and endurance 

 of this breed, for which alone it is prized, ^are very great, in 

 comparison to the slow march of the baggage camels. Of the 

 dromedary there are some breeds better than others. Mr. 

 Jackson says, that the fastest breed, called the sebayee, will 

 in five days perform a journey which would occupy the baggage 

 camels thirty-five days ; and as the average rate of the latter is 

 eighteen miles a day, it thus appears that the sebayee will 

 traverse six hundred and thirty miles in five days, an almost 

 incredible effort of speed and perseverance. Captain Lyon says, 



