CHAPTER IX.

THE START ACROSS THE DESERT—MY CAMEL SERVES ME A SCURVY TRICK—THE CAMEL, ITS HABITS AND TRAINING.

Three days after our arrival at Souakin there were some very heavy showers of rain. Mr. Brewster informed me that it was eighteen months since it last rained there.

On the fourth day after our arrival about 80 hired camels were brought into the large open square to be laden with the tents and baggage of every description. I wish I could adequately describe the scene that ensued—the camels groan and bellow without any provocation, as if they were the most ill-used animals in existence; the Arabs shout and wrangle with each other as they adjust the loads on the haweias (a kind of pack-saddle), clutch one another by the hair of the head, after the manner of women when quarrelling, and shake the offending head about most vigorously. Our head-man, Suleiman, walks[112] round and distributes his favours very impartially—a tug of the hair for one, a box on the ears for another, and a flick of the coorbatch (a whip made of hippopotamus hide) for another. This scene lasted for about three hours, and when at last they did start, they formed a very long hamlah, or caravan. The head of one camel is tied to the tail of the one in front, a long piece of rope intervening to allow for the long stride of the camel. We posted our letters—the last for some time to come—for England, to say that we were just starting on our Arab life across the Nubian desert. The caravan having started, each of us sees to his riding camel being got ready. We are some time in starting, getting our makloufas (camel saddles) properly and securely adjusted, and our little belongings, such as rifles, revolvers, saddle-bags, travelling satchels, &c., fixed on them. Each one has a zanzimeer hung on to a strap by the side of the camel. The word zanzimeer requires explanation; it is a large leathern bottle, capable of holding three or four quarts of water. As, in our journey across the desert, we should perhaps be sometimes two or three days before we came to any well, we had to provide a water-camel, whose business was to carry two large barrels full of water for domestic purposes. Each of these had a padlock on them, so that the Arabs[113] could not get at them just whenever they felt inclined—a very necessary precaution, as they are so very careless, would take the spigot out of the barrel, quench their thirst, and as likely as not insecurely replace the plug, and let the water waste, which would be a very serious calamity. The mode of mounting and sitting on a camel is peculiar; my legs don’t hang down each side of him in stirrups, but hang down in front of the saddle each side of his neck or crossed over the neck. No stirrups are used. The camel, of course, is on the ground, with his legs tucked under him; I approach his side and give a sudden vault or spring on to the makloufa. This must be done with great dexterity and quickness, unless the attendant has one foot placed on his fore-leg, as the camel gets up instantly as soon as I leave the ground, so of course, unless I am quick and dexterous, the result is disasterous; in other words, the camel gets on to his legs, and I go off mine on to my back. I watched the process of mounting very carefully, as it was my first experience of camel riding. I attempted and succeeded in doing the same as my pattern, and when my camel got up (which he did pretty quickly, and not without considerable danger and inconvenience to me), I felt that I occupied a very high and somewhat precarious position. However, I[114] soon got accustomed to the peculiar motion of a camel. A hygeen, dromedary, or riding camel, can go on a shuffling kind of trot (which is infinitely preferable to a fast trot or walk) at the rate of about five miles an hour, and I am sure that anyone who rides 25 or 28 miles a day, under the burning rays of an African sun, will think he has done quite enough, although on some occasions we have made forced marches and travelled 30 or 33 miles in one day. There were no hygeens at Souakin; we therefore rode our caravan camels. A hamlah, or caravan camel, is capable of carrying considerably over 3 cwt. for very long distances, travels at the rate of 2? miles per hour, and will go steadily on for 12, 14, or 16 hours without stopping to eat or drink. He only requires water every fourth day, and can go without (on a pinch) 5 or 6 days, but when he does drink it is as well to let out his girths a few inches, or he will burst them. The twigs and leaves of the mimosa and kittar bushes, the scanty herbage of the desert, is all he requires, except whilst making forced marches, when he requires a certain amount of dhurra, because he has no time for grazing. This useful animal may well be called the ship of the desert, for if it were not for him, the enormous extent of burning sand which separates the fertile portion of the Soudan from Lower Egypt would be[115] like an ocean devoid of vessels, and the deserts would be a barrier absolutely impassable by man. During the season when fresh pasture is abundant camels can go for weeks without water, provided they are not loaded or required to make extraordinary exertions; the juices of the plants which form their food are then sufficient to quench their thirst. The flesh of the young animal is one of the greatest luxuries; of the skins tents are made; the various sorts of hair or wool shed by the camel are wrought into different fabrics; and its dried dung constitutes excellent fuel, the only kind, indeed, to be obtained throughout vast extents of country. In order to qualify camels for great exertions and the endurance of fatigue, the Arabs begin to educate them at an early age. They are first taught to bear burdens by having their limbs secured under their belly, and then a weight proportioned to their strength is put on; this is not changed for a heavier load till the animal is thought to have gained sufficient power to sustain it. Food and drink are not allowed at will, but given in small quantity, at long intervals. They are then gradually accustomed to long journeys and an accelerated pace until their qualities of fleetness and strength are fully brought into action. They are taught to kneel, for the purpose of receiving or removing their load. When[116] too heavily laden they refuse to rise, and by loud cries complain of the injustice. Those which are used for speed alone are capable of travelling from 60 to 90 miles a day: Instead of employing blows or ill-treatment to increase their speed, the camel-drivers sing cheerful songs, and thus urge the animals to their best efforts. When a caravan of camels arrives at a resting or halting-place, they kneel, and the cords sustaining the loads being untied, the bales slip down on each side. They generally sleep on their bellies: In an abundant pasture they generally browse as much in an hour as serves them for ruminating all night, and for their support during the next day. But it is uncommon to find such pasturage, and they are contented with the coarsest fare, and even prefer it to more delicate plants. Breeding and milk-giving camels are exempted from service, and fed as well as possible, the value of their milk being greater than that of their labour. The milk is very thick, abundant, and rich, but of rather a strong taste. Mingled with water it forms a very nutritive article of diet. The young camel usually sucks for twelve months, but such as are intended for speed are allowed to suck and exempted from restraint for two or three years. The camel attains the full exercise of its functions within four or five years, and the duration of its life[117] is from forty to fifty years. The hump or humps on the back of a camel are mere accumulations of cellular substance and fat, covered by skin and a longer hair than that on the general surface. During long journeys, in which the animals suffer severely from want of food, and become greatly emaciated, these protuberances become gradually absorbed, and no trace of them left, except that the skin is loose and flabby where they were situated. In preparing for a journey, it is necessary to guard the humps from pressure or friction by appropriate saddles, as the slightest ulceration of these parts is followed by the worst consequences: insects deposit their larv? in the sores, and sometimes extensive and destructive mortification ensues. I have often seen crows pecking away at sores on a camel’s side, and was surprised to see how little notice it takes of them. After all, I must say of the camel, that he not only groans and roars when he is too heavily laden, but at all times without the least occasion, and although it may appear mild, docile, and patient, it is frequently perverse and stupid. The males especially are at certain times dangerous. It is sure-footed, too, as I have often experienced in travelling over mountains so precipitous that no animal but a camel could have carried such heavy loads as I have seen it do without accident. All breeds of camels[118] could not do so, but those belonging to the Hadendowah Arabs, between the Red Sea and Taka, are very sure-footed. The camels most highly thought of in the Soudan are the Bishareen; they are very strong and enduring, but not so large as many others. There is quite as much difference in the breeds of camels as of horses, and as much difference in riding a hygeen and baggage camel as there would be in riding a nice springy cob and a cart horse. Amongst the Arabs a good “hygeen,” or riding dromedary, is worth from 50 to 150 dollars; the average value of a baggage camel is about 15 dollars, but I believe our average ran up to 30 or 35 dollars.