Page 24 - A Hand Book of Arabia Vol 2_Neat

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METHODS OF TRANSPORT
. 14

eyes than the gazelles, because man sees in this creature his whole
welfare, in the khala.’ •
The great virtue of the species is patience. Though resenting the
process of being laden, when once started camels will go on until they
fall so utterly exhausted that it may be necessary to destroy them :
it is cheaper to buy three new camels than to bring one exhausted
beast round (Nolde). If well treated, they do not bite or kick. The
driver makes the laden beast kneel by uttering a guttural cry like
ikh-kh-kh !; if that fails, he strikes him with hand or driving-stick
upon the neck ; if there is still resistance, he draws him down by
the beard. If a couched camel is unruly, the Arab controls him by
laying hold of the cartilage of his nose, whereupon he is at once
amenable. The trot is the dromedary’s easiest pace ; the walk, if
long continued, has been described as back-breaking for the inex­
perienced. ‘ Camels at a descent are wooden riding ; the lumpish
brutes ... let themselves plumb down with stiff joints to every
lower step ’ (Doughty). After rain, upon loamy or slippery soil,
they are useless, slipping so badly that a halt must be made until
the ground is dry.
They differ greatly in size and strength in various parts of Arabia.
In the Mecca country they are feeble ; the largest and most powerful
are those bred by the Anazah in the north the fastest come from
Central Arabia and Oman, though the breed of the country behind
Aden is locally renowned for speed. The pure-blooded camel does
not flourish at too great a distance from his native region. The
Turks have used thorough-bred Arabian dromedaries for carry­
ing dispatches in Mesopotamia and the Syrian desert; but it is
»aid that N. of the 30th parallel they soon deteriorate, and cannot
• maintain their former speed (Nolde). Central Arabian camels are
generally grey or white ; in the north a dun colour is preferred,
while black is supposed to indicate an uncertain temper.
The Bedouin camel picks up its food where it can, living on the
roughest grazing, browsing on thorny acacia and tamarisk, andjfinding >
no small part of its sustenance in'the rimth, a saline bush ‘ which
is to camels as flesh-meat to man ’. Where special effort is required,
or grazing is insufficient, food is carried. The great Hajj camels
do not browse, but are fed. as in Syria, on balls of boiled pulse, with
addition of knot-grass forage (thurm). The ‘Uqeil (Ageyl) usually carry
a mixture of millet and coarse flour, called alej, which thev make
up every night into balls the size of a man's fist, giving five or six
to each of their camels. In S. Nejd the Arabs roll dates into balls,
/r°neland a^' au<^ t^ese are reputed to be beneficial as medicine
' achman). When the spring pasture begins, the camels i increase