CHAPTER XXXVIII
ARABIA
A Camel
(From an instantaneous photograph of an animal cracker)
Arabia is the home of the Camel and the Bedouin.
“The Camel may be likened to
A desert ship. (This is not new.)
He is a most ungainly craft,
With frowning turrets fore and aft
We little realize on earth,
How much we owe to his great girth,
For should he ever shrink so small
As through the needle’s eye to crawl,
Rich men might climb the golden stairs
And so leave nothing to their heirs.”
The Camel is called the ship of the desert because its gait is said to resemble the motion of a ship.
A Bedouin A Folding-Bedouin
To be strictly accurate it is a hundred times worse than a ship, but not quite so bad as a motor bus.