If It Happen That The Camel Dies By The Way, The Carrier Is
To Supply Us With Another; And Therefore,
Those carriers[FN#42] who
come from Egypt to Mecca with the Caravan, bring with them several
spare camels; for
There is hardly a night passeth but many die upon the
road, for if a camel should chance to fall, it is seldom known that it
is able to rise again; and if it should, they despair of its being
capable of performing the journey, or ever being useful more. It is a
common thing, therefore, when a camel once falls, to take off its
burden and put it on another, and then kill it; which the poorer sort
of the company eat. I myself have eaten of camel’s flesh, and it is very
sweet and nourishing. If a camel tires, they even leave him upon the
place.
“The first day we set out from Mecca, it was without any order at all,
all hurly burly; but the next day every one laboured to get forward;
and in order to it, there was many time much quarrelling and fighting.
But after every one had taken his place in the Caravan, they orderly
and peaceably kept the same place till they came to Grand Cairo. They
travel four camels in a breast,
[p.382] which are all tied one after the other, like as in
teams.[FN#43] The whole body is called a Caravan, which is divided into
several cottors, or companies, each of which hath its name, and
consists, it may be, of several thousand camels; and they move one
cottor after another, like distinct troops. In the head of each cottor
is some great gentleman or officer, who is carried in a thing like a
horse-litter, borne by two camels, one before and the other behind,
which is covered all over with sear-cloth, and over that again with
green broad cloth, and set forth very handsomely. If the said great
person hath a wife with him, she is carried in another of the
same.[FN#44] In the head of every cottor there goes, likewise, a
sumpter camel which carries his treasures, &c. This camel hath two
bells, about the bigness of our market-bells, having one on each side,
the sound of which may be heard a great way off. Some other of the
camels have round bells about their necks, some about their legs, like
those which our carriers put about their fore-horses’ necks; which
together with the servants (who belong to the camels, and travel on
foot) singing all night, make a pleasant noise, and the journey passes
away delightfully. They say this musick make the camels brisk and
lively. Thus they travel, in good order every day, till they come to
Grand Cairo; and were it not for this order, you may guess what
confusion would be amongst such a vast multitude.
“They have lights by night (which is the chief time of travelling,
because of the exceeding heat of the sun by day), which are carried on
the tops of high poles, to direct the Hagges on their march.[FN#45]
They are somewhat like
[p.382] iron stoves, into which they put short dry wood, which some of
the camels are loaded with; it is carried in great sacks, which have an
hole near the bottom, where the servants take it out, as they see the
fires need a recruit.
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