BEDOUIN ARABS WITH THEIR CAMEL HERDS.
The boys did not learn till after the commencement of their journey that the saddles on which they rode were nothing more than pack-saddles for transporting freight around the cataract, and their beasts of burden were the ordinary freight camels, and not those kept exclusively for riding. A blanket was thrown over the saddle, but it did not conceal the inequalities of it, and long before their return the youths would have been quite willing to exchange their poetic camels for prosaic donkeys. The last mile of Frank's ride was performed on foot, and it would have been a difficult matter to persuade him to try the excursion over again under similar conditions.
CAMELS (FROM AN ASSYRIAN SCULPTURE).
The regular saddle for camel riding is a sort of dish, in which you sit with your feet crossed around the pommel or hanging over the side. You can have a pair of stirrups attached if you like, for resting the feet, and they are by no means to be despised. An excellent plan for a long journey is to sling a couple of boxes or a pair of well-stuffed bags across a common pack-saddle, and cover them with mattresses and blankets, so as to make a platform about six feet broad; then put up your bed in a roll and fasten it to the back of the saddle, to form a comfortable rest, and with a pair of stirrups fastened to the saddle-bow you can select your own position for riding. If the sun is hot you can spread an umbrella; and if you have been fortunate in your selection of a camel, and his motion is easy, you will find no difficulty in reading and even in sleeping, though a nap on the back of a camel is not altogether safe.
The camel has a peculiar rocking motion that is a great strain on the spine of the inexperienced rider. He does not feel it much till the second day, and then, as Fred expressed it, he feels as though he had a back-bone of glass, or some other brittle substance.
