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make their horses run with the rapidity of lightning. 
AH the Wehhabites, and even the sons of the Sultan, 
make use of the same sort of pannel. 
The great aridity of the desert is the cause of the 
scarcity of horses; but the camel can live and travel in 
it easily. The horses eat dry grass, as also do the 
camels. They hardly ever give them barley or oats; and 
it is said that they support very well the privation of 
water. 
This is not the country of that noble companion of 
man. It is in Yemen, and in the neighbourhood of 
Syria, that the finest Arabian horses are to be found; 
and it is from thence that they are taken to Constanti- 
nople; in consequence of which I shall treat hereafter 
of them. 
The asses of Mecca, though small, are excellent, but 
no better than those of Egypt. 
The camel is the proper beast for the desert: it is the 
great gift of God to its inhabitants, and to travellers. 
What would Arabia do without camels? What human 
force could suffice to assemble 82 or 84,000 individu- 
als at the foot of Mount Arafat on the day of the pil- 
grimage, if they had not these animals to transport 
them, and all that is requisite for their subsistence? Let 
us leave the horse, the ass, and the other beasts of bur- 
den, to the countries and places where an abundance of 
water furnishes them with good pasturage; but God 
has created the camel for that part of Arabia which 
ancient geographers call Petrea and Deserta, and for 
Sahhara, or the Great Desert of Africa, to be the trea- 
sure of the inhabitants of those countries. 
This precious animal is the only beast of burden, 
and almost the only one for riding in the country* 
There are indeed some asses to be found that will go 
