156 
ARABIAN CAMEXi, 
second : another man^ sitting on a truss of straw, 
brought up the rear, and, by his directions, was 
employed in keeping the second and third camels 
in their course. 
Few travellers have ever had greater occasion 
to try the perseverance of the camel, and receive 
all the services which this animal is capable of 
affording, than Mr. Bruce, on his return from the 
court of Abyssinia to Cairo. On his way be- 
tween Sennaar and Syene, in the deserts east of the 
Nile, after a long and dreary journey, in which 
lie and his attendants had exhausted their provi- 
sions, to the last remains of their miserable 
stock of black bread and dirty water the 
strength of his camels was so far overcome, or so 
much were they benumbed by cold, that no arts 
nor efforts could raise them from the ground ; or 
at least prevail with them to stand but two minutes 
without kneeling down again. In this hopeless 
situation, his only resource was, to kill two of 
those fainting animals, to draw out the water that re- 
mained in their stomachs for drink, each affording 
about four gallons, and take a part of their flesh 
for food. The same traveller relates, that the 
camels of the caravans, which travel from the 
"Niger, across the desert of Selirna, are said to take 
\ once as much w ater as they need for forty days. 
He asserts as an uiiquestionabe fact, that even an 
ordinary camel will live, upon occasion, fourteen 
or fifteen days without water. 
Mankind owe also other benefits to this animal. 
The Arabs, and other nations among whom they 
are common, use their flesh and milk, not merely 
in causes of extreme necessity, but even for their 
ordinary food. The flesh is dry, but of an agree- 
able enough taste ; though, except for feasts, none 
are ever killed but the old, and those without 
pmy pains being taken to fat them. The milk is 
