22 



THE USES OE THE CAMEL. 



" Great bales of orange safifron-weed, and crystal diamonds clear ; 

 Large Beja rubies, fiery red, such stones the Emirs wear. 

 Last came the shekels and the bars, in leather bags sealed red, 

 And then black slaves, with jars of gold upon each woolly head." 



SADDLE AND FUENITUEE. 



The riding-gear of the dromedary is somewhat lighter and 

 more elegant, but otherwise of similar construction to the pack- 

 saddle. Some tribes have adopted the Moorish pattern, which 

 is in the form of a bowl with stirrups, two of which they attach 

 to the frame-work and pad of the Arab saddle, one before and 

 one behind the hump. The baggage of the travellers is swung 

 across midships. The forward seat is occupied by the servant 

 or driver, who occasionally rests his feet upon the camel's neck 

 by way of a change ; and the after, which may be styled the 

 quarter-deck, is the seat of the master. 



The family arrangement is altogether different. A pair of 

 stout wooden frames is slung over the pack-saddle, somewhat 

 resembling straight-backed chairs, in which, protected by awn- 

 ings, ride the high-born dames. Another contrivance is a pair of 

 "wooden boxes, furnished with cushions of lion or leopard skins, 

 about four feet in length and two in width, usually surmounted 

 with a stylish awning, supported by posts at the four corners, 

 and another rising from the centre of the saddle. These awnings 

 have side-curtains, or perhaps lattices, through w^hich the Mus- 

 sulman women catch glimpses of the outer world. You occa- 

 sionally meet a whole family, not indeed so large as Solomon's 

 or Brigham Young's, cuddled together under one of these moving 

 tents. There is also the camel-litter, which is nothing more or 

 less than an Eastern palanquin, borne by two camels harnessed 

 before and behind to its long shafts. This conveyance, in which 

 half a dozen may comfortably ride, is only used for invalids or 

 noble families. 



CAMEL-KIDtNG. 



You do not vault into the saddle of your dromedary after the 

 chivalric manner of horsemen. The performance, if less grace- 

 ful, is often more laughable, and I cannot describe it better than 

 by quoting from a lively writer in an old number of the American 

 Whig Review, who saith : — 



" But the dragoman is sounding ' boot and saddle,' after his 



