The progress of the camel i ; in general slow, espe cially when collected in numbers to compose a caravan ; but its pace is regular and uniform, and constitutes no inaccurate measurement of distance over desolate re gions, where there is no guide. Travellers have fre quently remarked, that the caravan then advances only between two or three miles an hour, and continues but seven or eight hours in motion ; though from extraor dinary exertions, or the peculiarity of circumstances, the latter period may be considerably protracted in a day. But, from careful calculation of the time employed in long and painful journeys, two miles and a hall' an hour is the result. This was found in crossing the great de sert, which extends 720 miles ; and also in the little de sert, which stretches above 450 miles between more fertile countries. It does not appear that the load of the camel materially affects its progress; and that the chief difference in that case lies in the daily duration of the march. One which carries but little in addition to the weight of its rider, travels an hour and a half or two hours longer every day in distant journeys.
But among the different species or varieties of the camel, sonic arc endowed with uncommon speed, and emphatically called by the eastern nations camels of the qvind. This, the Arabs figuratively express, when thou shalt meet a hcirie, and say to the rider, " Salem Alick," ere he shall have answered thee, " Alick Salem," he will be afar off, for his swiftness is like the wind.' '1'here are many- glaciations, however, in the fleetness of these ani mals, which are trained for the saddle only, and arc in variably of the Arabian, or one bunch kind. But a ca mel endowed with this property is rarely found. The ancients relate, that a journey, which usually occupied 30 or 40 days, was performed in eleven, with camels of the dromedary species, when Alexander commanded Parmenio to be put to death ; and Leo Africanus ob• serves, that many dromedaries will go an hundred miles daily, for eight or ten successive days.
These assertions arc fully confirmed by modern ob servations, from which we learn that the name of this fleet animal is nzahari, clheiric, or erragual, to distinguish it from djimmel, by which name the ordinary camel is known to the Arabs. Its properties are of different de grees, according to the various breeds or races, which as yet arc not sufficiently illustrated; but it is evidently of smaller size and lighter make than any of the other species hitherto described. The camel which can go three days journey in one is called talatayee : one, called sebayee, whose qualities are greater, can perform a jour ney of seven days in the same space of time, and this is the general characteristic. But there is still a third, en
dowed with such fleetness, as to be capable of accom plishing nine days journey in one, which is denominated tasayee. This animal is so rare, that 200 common ca mels are given in exchange as its value. Provided with a goat-skin of water, a few dates, and some ground bar ley, the hardy Arab, having his loins, breast, and ears bound round to resist the percussion of the air, ventures on the swiftest excursions through the deserts, while the heirie is allowed water only once in seven days. Sonnim relates an extraordinary journey by a Bedouin Arab, who travelled from Cairo to Mecca in five days, which commonly requires thirty : Mr Jackson affirms that a sebayee once came from Fort St Joseph, on the river Senegal, to Mogador, which can be scarce less than 900 miles in seven days. An Arab also assured him, that be knew a youth of Magador passionately enamoured of a beautiful young woman, whom nothing would satisfy but oranges from Morocco. Mounting his heirie at dawn, he departed and returned with the object of his mistress's desire to Mogador the same night, though the distance between the two cities is an hundred miles. Probably this is the species of camel spoken of by Chardin, so fleet that a horse only at full gallop can keep up with it. M. d'Obsonville observes, that he saw a stud of 200 in pos session of an eastern prince which could travel thirty leagues a day, each carrying two or three soldiers, with their warlike accoutrements : and lie was told, that, on an emergency, they could double that distance without great inconvenience. These animals, however, were supported on choice and substantial food, though, in com mon with their kind, they were capable of enduring hunger. Thus it is satisfactorily established, that there is a particular breed or variety of the Arabian camel, of smaller size and greater speed than the common spe cies.
Though the camel produces but one at a time, or
It is not in journies only that the camel is of such re markable utility to its owner : it alike constitutes the sustenance, convenience, and riches of the barbarous no madic tribes ; and it is indispensible to the luxuries of the more civilized nations. Its flesh is agreeable food ; the milk is salutary and restorative ; and from its hair arc manufactured valuable articles of clothing.