spirit, but a camel is not jumpable. A camel is as tall as any ordinary

dwelling-house in Syria--which is to say a camel is from one to two, and

sometimes nearly three feet taller than a good-sized man. In this part

of the country his load is oftenest in the shape of colossal sacks--one

on each side. He and his cargo take up as much room as a carriage.

Think of meeting this style of obstruction in a narrow trail. The camel

would not turn out for a king. He stalks serenely along, bringing his

cushioned stilts forward with the long, regular swing of a pendulum, and

whatever is in the way must get out of the way peaceably, or be wiped out

forcibly by the bulky sacks. It was a tiresome ride to us, and perfectly

exhausting to the horses. We were compelled to jump over upwards of

eighteen hundred donkeys, and only one person in the party was unseated

less than sixty times by the camels. This seems like a powerful

statement, but the poet has said, "Things are not what they seem." I can

not think of any thing, now, more certain to make one shudder, than to

have a soft-footed camel sneak up behind him and touch him on the ear

with its cold, flabby under-lip. A camel did this for one of the boys,

who was drooping over his saddle in a brown study. He glanced up and saw

the majestic apparition hovering above him, and made frantic efforts to

get out of the way, but the camel reached out and bit him on the shoulder

before he accomplished it. This was the only pleasant incident of the

journey.

At Nazareth we camped in an olive grove near the Virgin Mary's fountain,

and that wonderful Arab "guard" came to collect some bucksheesh for his

services" in following us from Tiberias and warding off invisible

596

The Innocents Abroad