THE CAMEL, 197

days’ thirst, fifteen slaves and one of the merchants died;
another of them, an Ababde, who had ten camels with him,
thinking that the animals might know better than their mas-
ters where water was to be found, desired his comrades to
tie him fast upon the saddle of his strongest camel, that he
might not fall down from weakness, and thus he parted from
them, permitting his camels to take their own way; but
neither the man nor his camels were ever heard of afterwards.
On the eighth day after leaving Owareyk, the survivors came
in sight of the mountains of Shigre, which they immediately
recognized; but their strength was quite exhausted, and
neither men nor beasts were able to move any farther.
Lying down under a rock, they sent two of their servants,
with the two strongest remaining camels, in search of water.
Before these two men could reach the mountain, one of them
dropped off his camel, deprived of speech, and able only to
move his hands to his comrade as a sign that he desired to
be left to his fate. The survivor then continued his route;
but such was the effect of thirst upon him, that his eyes grew
dim, and he lost the road, though he had often travelled
over it before, and had been perfectly acquainted with it.
Having wandered about for a long time, he alighted under
the shade of a tree, and tied the camel to one of its
branches: the beast, however, smelt the water, (as the Arabs
express it) and, wearied as it was, broke its halter, and set
off galloping in the direction of the spring, which, as after-
wards appeared, was at half an hour’s distance. The man,
well understanding the camel’s action, endeavoured to follow
its footsteps, but could only move a few yards; he fell ex-
hausted on the ground, and was about to breathe his last,
when Providence led that way from a neighbouring encamp-
ment, a Bisharye Bedouin, who, by throwing water upon
the man’s face, restored him to his senses. They then
went hastily together to the water, filled the skins, and,
returning to the caravan, had the good fortune to find the