106 
ARABIAN CAMEL OR DROMEDARY. 
to kneel and receive their burdens, and are generally 
of [a mild and submissive disposition, docile and pa- 
tient, but obstinate when overloaded — often re- 
fusing to rise if their burden is felt to be beyond 
their strength. The strong dromedary for burden, 
will cany 1200 pounds weight for a journey with 
the caravans across the deserts, and this at the 
rate of from fifteen to twenty-five miles in the 
twenty- four hours ; and in cases of extremity, fifty 
miles of the desert have been traversed by the Arab 
in the same period of time ; but this, while it places 
him in safety, and out of the reach from any one 
not provided with a similar conveyance, could not 
be kept up, and the scanty supply afforded by the 
produce of the country passed over, would soon fail 
to maintain the strength of the animal. 
These caravans or travelling parties, are most fre- 
quently of the most motley description, consisting of 
merchants from various countries, exhibiting the 
variety of costume and manners incident to each, 
and the accompaniments are generally composed of 
persons wlio have chosen this escort for their safety 
across the desert, with a rear of followers who have 
also chosen the escort for safety, but join to this the 
hope of plunder, or of a scanty charity by the way. 
At other times, however, some of these expeditions 
are more regular ; and it appears that the camels can 
be trained to obey orders like the discipline of a troop 
of horse. In the continuation of Clapperton’s Jour- 
nal by Lander, we are told/of the arrival of 500 ca- 
