Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-03-10
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Noted for patience, he can not have
praise for cheerfulness and courage.
His is rather a serious and melancholy
! nature. What if we thus account for
his lack of recuperative power? In
general sick or injured camel might
as well be dead one. If he gets q
cold in wet weather, or a strain FROM
slipping on sloppy ground, he does not
''make an effort" but succumbs, IS it
it were the proper thing to do. 1t fol-
lows that as an exemplar to the lord Of
the fowl and the brute he has his limita-l
tions. Go to the dromedary. thou slug
gard and malcontent, but if thou art
wanting in pluck and willpower-don't t!
He is not of the stuff that s'faith-cure''i
could leaven.
| While his social instincts are dull, he
is not entirely devoid of sentiment.
When patted and kindly spoken to the
camel manifests pleasure, and to listen
to singing is to him an aesthetic feast.
Give him a song on the weary way:
and his eyes will dilate, their mournful
expression changing to one approach,
ing animation as he prospects afar over
/ the dormant landscape; he will turn
back his slim. ungainly neck to view
with pride and gratitude truly unspeak-,
able his rider lounging among cushions
i within the square wooden frame with
its pair of gall pommels, settled upon
his accommodating hump. What
! camel-rider but could afford to store
up music in his soul, even as the dumb
beast lays in a supply of water, to be
dispensed on the journeyP
! In Iio on i, IF
| the worlds vessels of oak and iron,
and thirty pounds, says the Govern
ment to you, is the limit thus far you
may lade your beast and o farther. In
Arabia the load is greater by from
thirty to sixty pounds in Persia it is
nearly doubled; in Egypt the average,
is eight hundred pounds and it is even!
stated that Turcoman camel will
carry fifteen hundred pounds here
we see how naturally the last feather
might break the canel's back
Much of this difference IS attributa-i
BILE to the quality of roads. Where
the route is passably good the laden
beasts proceed in single file, the halter
of one being tied to the tail of the next
IN advance, and so on to the end of the
line of three to ten. This nose halter
OF twisted hair serves for bit and
bride 1t would appear to be from
the force OF routine, and not from any
such attachment as ho1ses form for
their mates, that camel will refuse to-
proceed if the one next in front of lfimi
is changed. Egyptian caravans traveQ
abreast, and many present front of
mile, or OF miles. Night travel is pre-
ferred for its greater GOODNESS, when
the way is lighted by torches, the scene
presenting a weird picturesqueness
whose description would seem to be-
long to the pages of the arabian
Nights" Ten hours is an ordinary
march, but sometimes a caravan is i'm
continuous motion for whole twenty
four hours. The rate of travel is only
about two miles an hour, which might
tax the patience of men accustomed to
the speed of the horse; though the
dromedary. when put to the task, can
accomplish as much as seventy miles a
day for two or three successive days.
Haroun-al-Raschid (Aaron the Just),
who fiourished during the last half OF
the eighth century, performed no less
than nine pilgrimages from Bagdad to
the City of the Prophet, with no less:
than hundred and twenty thousand
camels, nine hundred of the number
being employed in conveying the
Caliph's wardrobe, which we may well
believe would have shamed the lilies
Of the field, had there been any on the
way, making them hide their array at
the roots OF the timothy. The Egyp-
tian sovereignty of century ago made
many a march with about a thou
sand animals laden with sweet
meats, pomegranates, and other
fruits for the European mar
ket In modern times much of the
glory of the caravan has departed. as
its torches pale when night fees away
and they are met by the level shafts of
the rising sun. No long tine hence
the iron horse will career athwart the
plains of the Orient and bid the ship of
the desert stand by. It does not fol-
low that the native beast will be gen
orally superseded any more than the
horse has been by the same imperious
presence in Europe and America. He
will be spared some of his most
fatiguing duties, but will remain USE
full and eminently interesting feature
of Oriental life.
Yearly still the Turkish Sultan makes
him the bearer of splendid covering
for the shrine of Mohammed at Mecca.
The camel selected as chief of the con-
voy bears high silken pavilion, and is
gaily bedecked with ribbons, laces and
initiated gems; and from that time he
is exempted from labor. and furnished
with handsome lodging and servants
to attend to all his wants. The really
curious point, and one from which a
sermon might be preached is that the
mammal, or carpet, is merely imagined
to be within his pavilion, but, in fact,
is made the burden of his unhonored
fellows.
All in all, meat, drink, clothing,
fuel, conveyance has the Mohammedan
found in his camel, and his eye of faith
sees a white-winged camel awaiting his
resurrection at the last day, to bear
him to paradise. Let us hope that the
sacred camel of the Beyond will be less
disappointing than the show-weite ele-
phant from far Siam, whose fitting re-