1 ( 290 )
2 CHAP. X.
3 TBADZ OF CAUBUl..
4 TN an inland country* desdtote of navigable riverit and not suited
5 to ivfafided carnages, oonuneioe must of couise be carried en hj
6 beaata of burthen $ of these^ ounels are found to be the b^ as
7 horn their strength, as thdr pati^oe of thirst, and the ease
8 with which they are fed on any kind of bush, and almost on any Idnd
9 of vegetable. The tribes whose country enables them to maintahi
10 camels, or rather restrains them to that description of stock, therefore
11 naturally turn their attention to commerce, and often combine it with
12 the migrations which they undertake in quest of forage for their
13 h^rds, and of an agreeable climt^ for themselves. When the lands
14 of these tribes, as la generally the case, neither furnish any produce
15 of their own nor afibrd a market for that of other countries, the
16 owners of camels are cliiefly employed in carrying the commodities
17 of one ricli country to he sold in another, ^^^en thev have a little
18 rapitnl, they do this on their own account, accompanying their mer-
19 chandise, and selling it tlicmselves ; but those whose onh wealth con-
20 sists in a few camels, are nnabie to engage in thin tiMilic, and content
21 themselves with hiring out their camels to the merchants of the
22 richer tribes, and of the cities, who either accompany their merchan-
23 dise themselves to tlie place of its destination, or send ii under ser-
24 vants (whose duty answers to that of supercargoes), according to their
25 own wealth and habitsof life. Some of these merchants alsokeep camels
26 of their own, which they feed in the wastes near the towns where
27 they reside; and some professed carriers also keep camels in the same
28 manner, which they hire out. Camels hired from a particular tribe,
29 usually make their journey in company with the tribe to which they
30 Digitized by Copgle