150 NATURAL HISTORY. 







" My principal experience in camels has been during my 

 travels through the Arabian desert. I followed, after some 

 interval of time, the route of the Hajji the Mecca pil- 

 grimage. 



" The temper of the Camel is in general not very amiable. 

 It is unwilling, jealous, and revengeful to the last degree. Of 

 this latter quality curious tales are told : one, which was fully 

 believed by the Arab that narrated it to me, was as follows. 

 A certain camel driver had bitterly insulted (i. e. thrashed in 

 some ignominious way,) the animal under his charge. The 

 camel showed a disposition to resent, but the driver knowing 

 from the expression of its eye what was passing within, kept 

 on the alert for several days. One night he had retired lor 

 safety inside his tent, leaving his striped abbaya or cloak 

 spread over the wooden saddle of the camel outside the tent. 



" During the night he heard the camel approach the object, 

 and after satisfying himself by smell or otherwise 'that it was 

 his master's cloak, and believing that the said master w r as 

 asleep beneath it, he lay down and rolled backwards and for- 

 wards over the cloak, evidently much gratified by the cracking 

 and smashing of the saddle under his weight, and fully per- 

 suaded that the bones of his master were broken to pieces. 

 After a time he rose, contemplated with great contentment 

 the disordered mass, still covered by the cloak, and retired. 



" Next morning, at the usual hour for loading, the master, 

 who had from the interior of his tent heard this agreeable 

 process going on, presented himself to the camel. The dis- 

 appointed animal was in such a rage, said my informant, on 

 seeing his master safe before him, that he broke his heart, and 

 died on the spot. 



" I had once to cross a very high range of recks, and we 

 had very great difficulty in getting our camels to face the 

 steeper part of the ascent, though any horse would have made 

 very light of it. All the riders had to dismount, and the 

 laden animals made the bare rocky solitudes ring to the con- 

 tinual and most savage growls with which they vented their 

 displeasure. It is well on these occasions to keep out of reach 

 of their long necks, which they stretch out and bring their 

 teeth within dangerous proximity to the arm or side of any one 

 but their master. 



