WITH THE "HUMPTY HERDS."

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 374, 1 July 1911, Page 6

WITH THE "HUMPTY HERDS."

CAMELS, NOT HORSES, MADE TRAVEL POSSIBLE IN ARABIA. In Arabia travel Is only possible by means of camels. The prancing Arabian steed is a myth to the traveller in the peninsula. I never saw a horse worth looking at in those desert regions ; indeed I cannot see how horses could be br®d to perfection in such a herbless land. Without toe camel life would be impossible. The "humpty herds" are sole product of the desert, and on them one must wander from well to well if one determines. to brave * this most inhospitable and dangerous of journeys. Camels form the chief concern of the Arab's existence. They supply him with all his wants, tents, food, clothing, and transport, hcncc the breeds are well selected, and pedigrees carefully kept. The tribe I was with owned immense herds of camels, chiefly ol highly-bred dromedaries capable of great endurante and of going without water for long periods, but they also had a few heavily-built baggage cnmftln. These dromedaries will, when in good condition, 1 travel seven or eight days without water. In th« spring months, when the pasture is Ireßh, they will' even exist for three weeks without it. For a short journey they can gc at a rate of seventy miles a day, and . the Bedouins are very fond of telling stories of record rides on camel back and of extraordinary distances covered without water. They can even cross immense areas of fodderless country, subsisting entirely on theii hump, which, however, gradually diminishes in size. The highly-bred dromedary is, like a* thoroughbred horse, very nervous and difficult tc ride. It is as necessary to talk tc your camel as it is for the man to talk to his team.—"Widt World."