198 WILD ANIMALS. 



for eiglit or ten days at the rate of from 125 to 150 miles a day, 

 during wliicli time tliey require Yery little food or water. This 

 fact required very strong evidence to substantiate it before it 

 would gain belief. Mr. Heap, who reported on the subject for the 

 American Grovernment, states in the appendix to his book,* that he 

 saw a party of Arabs mounted on dromedaries arrive in Tunis in 

 four days from TripoH, a distance of 600 miles. On these journeys 

 they do not of course bear heavy loads, but the weight of the 

 rider, with his arms and provisions, is equivalent to about 250 lbs. 



Captain William Peel refers frequently to the camel and its 

 utility in his book, " A Ride through the Nubian Desert." Sailor- 

 like, he appears to have kept a log that enabled him to calculate 

 the speed and position of " the ship of the desert." He writes : 

 " In crossing the Nubian desert I paid constant attention to the 

 march of the camels, hoping it might be of some service hereafter 

 in determining our position. The number of strides in a minute 

 with the same foot varied very little, only from 37 to 39, and 

 38 was the average; but the length of the stride was more 

 uncertain, varying from sis feet six inches to seven feet six inches. 

 As we were always urging the camels, who seemed, like ourselves, 

 to know the necessity of pushing on across the fearful tract, I 

 took seven feet as the average. These figures give a speed of 

 2*62 geographical miles per hour, or exactly three English miles, 

 which may be considered as the highest speed that camels lightly 

 loaded can keep up on a journey. In general it will not be more 

 than two and a half Bnghsh miles. My dromedary was one of 

 the tallest, and the seat of the saddle was six feet six inches above 

 the ground." 



A little further on he observes : " We met once, at a hollow 

 where some water still remained from the rains, 2000 camels 

 altogether, admirably organized into troops, and attended by only a 

 few Arabs. On another occasion we passed some camels grazing at 

 such a distance from the Nile that I asked the Arab attending 

 where they went to drink. He said he marches them down all 

 together to the Nile, and they drink every eleventh day. It is now 

 the cool season, and the heat is tempered by fresh northerly 



3 " Central Eoute to the Pacific." 1854. 



