Apart From All Ideas Of
Etiquette, The Motion Of The Latter Animal Is Quite Sufficient Warning.
Of All Species Of
Fatigue, the back-breaking, monotonous swing of a
heavy camel is the worst; and should the rider lose patience and
Administer a sharp cut with the coorbatch, that induces the creature to
break into a trot, the torture of the rack is a pleasant tickling
compared to the sensation of having your spine driven by a sledge-hammer
from below, half a foot deeper into the skull.
The human frame may be inured to almost anything; thus the Arabs, who
have always been accustomed to this kind of exercise, hardly feel the
motion, and the portion of the body most subject to pain in riding a
rough camel upon two bare pieces of wood for a saddle, becomes naturally
adapted for such rough service, as monkeys become hardened from
constantly sitting upon rough substances. The children commence almost
as soon as they are born, as they must accompany their mothers in their
annual migrations; and no sooner can the young Arab sit astride and hold
on than he is placed behind his father's saddle, to which he clings,
while he bumps upon the bare back of the jolting camel. Nature quickly
arranges a horny protection to the nerves, by the thickening of the
skin; thus, an Arab's opinion of the action of a riding hygeen should
never be accepted without a personal trial. What appears delightful to
him may be torture to you, as a strong breeze and a rough sea may be
charming to a sailor, but worse than death to a landsman.
I was determined not to accept the camels now offered as hygeens until I
had seen them tried. I accordingly ordered our black soldier, El Baggar,
to saddle the most easy-actioned animal for my wife; but I wished to see
him put it through a variety of paces before she should accept it. The
delighted EL Baggar, who from long practice was as hard as the heel of a
boot, disdained a saddle. The animal knelt, was mounted, and off he
started at full trot, performing a circle of about fifty yards' diameter
as though in a circus. I never saw such an exhibition! "Warranted quiet
to ride, of easy action, and fit for a lady!" This had been the
character received with the rampant brute, who now, with head and tail
erect, went tearing round the circle, screaming and roaring like a wild
beast, throwing his forelegs forward and stepping at least three feet
high in his trot.
Where was El Baggar? A disjointed looking black figure was sometimes on
the back of this easy going camel, sometimes a foot high in the air;
arms, head, legs, hands, appeared like a confused mass of dislocation;
the woolly hair of this unearthly individual, that had been carefully
trained in long stiff narrow curls, precisely similar to the tobacco
known as "negro-head," alternately started upright en masse, as though
under the influence of electricity, and then fell as suddenly upon his
shoulders.
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