132 THE CAMEL. 
have come up ; in the latter case the whol^ 
caravan must stop when any accident hap' 
pens to a single camel. The caravans froi® 
Bagdad to Aleppo and Damascus, consisting 
sometimes of two thousand camels, marching 
abreast of each other, extend over a space 
more than a mile.” 
Each of the camels marching in a line n*' 
variably follows the one which precedes hi^’ 
and thus they are liable to be led astray 
case the rider of the foremost is negligent' 
The leading camel requires to be excited : ^ 
not urged on by the human voice, he 
dually slackens his pace, and at length stanfi® 
still. All the rest do the same, for they 
wholly dependent upon those which precede 
them for the regularity of their pace and thn^ 
baitings. So completely are they under tb® 
direction of the leader, that a rider cannot stnp 
his dromedary while its companions 
moving on. 
