This is the land of the camel. Caravans are coming in and going out of the city every day bringing in bags of Mocha coffee and gums and taking out European goods and other supplies to the various oases. There is a considerable trade with Yemen as well as with the tribes of southeastern Arabia. There are always camels lying in the market places, and one sees them blubbering and crying as they are loaded and unloaded. They are the most discontented beasts upon earth, and are as mean as they look. One bit at me this afternoon as I passed it, and I am told that they never become reconciled to their masters. Nevertheless, they are the freight animals of this part of the world, and the desert could not get along without them. They furnish the greater part of the milk for the various Arab settlements, and the people make their tents of camel’s hair. They are, in fact, the cows of the desert. They are of many different breeds, varying as much in character as horses. There are some breeds that correspond to the Percheron, and the best among them can carry half a ton at a load. There are others fitted solely for riding and passenger travel. The ordinary freight camel makes only about three miles an hour and eighteen miles is a good day’s work. The best racing camels will travel twenty hours at a stretch, and will cover one hundred miles in a day. Seventy-five miles in ten hours is not an uncommon journey for an Arabian racer, and much better speed has been made. As to prices, an ordinary freight camel brings about thirty dollars, but a good riding camel costs one hundred dollars and upward. Have you ever heard how the camel was created? Here is the story of its origin as told by the Arabs. They say that God first formed the horse by taking up a handful of the swift south wind and blowing upon it. The horse, however, was not satisfied with his making. He complained to God that his neck was too short for easy grazing and that his hoofs were so hard that they sank in the sand. Moreover, he said there was no hump on his back to steady the saddle. Thereupon, to satisfy the horse, God created the camel, making him according to the equine’s suggestions. And when the horse saw his ideal in flesh and blood he was frightened at its ugliness and galloped away. Since then there is no horse that is not scared when it first sees a camel. This story makes me think of the Arab tradition as to how God first made the water buffalo, which, as you know, is about the ugliest beast that ever wore horns, hair, and skin. God’s first creation was the beautiful cow. When He had finished it the devil happened that way, and as he saw it he laughed at the job, and sneered out that he could make a better beast with his eyes shut. Thereupon the Lord gave him some material such as He had put into the cow and told him to go to work. The devil wrought all day and all night, and the result was the water buffalo.