The ordinary burden of a camel is two _tellis_ of wheat, or about 250 kilogrammes. If not over-driven, it can go from dawn to sunset, at least if it be allowed, as it journeys along, to elongate its neck and pluck the herbage that grows on either side of its path. In this manner it will cover from ten to twelve leagues in the twenty-four hours, and every fifth day it must be permitted to rest. In the desert, camels are let out to hire, not by the day, but by the journey, going and returning, according to the distance. For instance, from El-Biod, among the Oulad-Sidi-Shikh, to the Beni-Mzab, or about fifty leagues, costs from two to three _douros_, and from the same point to Timimoun six or seven _douros_. The flesh of the camel is eaten as food. The animal, however, is seldom killed unless it has a broken leg, or is sick. The flesh is sometimes salted, and, after being dried in the sun, is kept as a provision on a journey. The love and veneration felt by the Arabs of the Sahara for their camels are quite intelligible. "How should we not love them?" they exclaim. "Alive, they transport ourselves, our wives, our children, our baggage and provisions, from the land of oppression to that of liberty. The weight they can carry is enormous, and the distance they traverse very considerable. In other words, they further the relations of commerce and render aid in war. Thanks to them, we are able, whenever we please, to shift our encampment, whether in search of new pasturages, or to escape from an enemy. Moreover, we drink their milk, which is also useful in the preparations of food, and neutralises the injurious qualities of the date. Dead, their flesh is everywhere eaten with relish, and their hump is sought after as a savoury dish. Their skin serves as shoe-leather. If soaked, and then sewed to the saddle-tree, it imparts, without the aid of a single nail or peg, a solidity that nothing can affect. Then, their sobriety and endurance of heat and thirst permit them to be kept alike by rich and poor. They are truly a boon from Allah, who hath said:— Horses for a dispute, Oxen for poverty. Camels for the desert. SHEEP.