In Asia and in Africa there are vast plains of sand, upon which no grass grows, and through which no river runs. These plains are as smooth as the ocean unmoved by waves. As far as the eye can reach, nothing is to be seen but sand. In the middle of the day when the sun is hottest, the sand dazzles the eyes of the traveller, as if there were a sun beneath the sand as well as one above.

Here and there, but many miles apart, are green spots consisting of bushes, trees, and grass, growing around a small pool or spring of water. These green spots are called oases. Here the tired traveller can find food and shade, and can sleep awhile, sheltered from the blazing sun.

How do you think the traveller crosses these burning plains? Not in carriages, nor on horseback, nor in railroad trains, but on the backs of tall, long-necked, humpbacked camels.

Even if you have seen camels alive, or pictures of them, you will still be glad to learn more about these very useful animals.

The camel lives on grass, and the dry short herbage, which is found on the edges of the desert. While travelling in the desert, it is fed upon dates and barley. It is able to eat a great deal of food at a time and to drink enough water to last some days. By this means, it can go for a long time without food, and travel long distances without stopping to eat or drink. The camel has a curious lump of fat on the top of its back called a “hump.” One kind of camel has two humps. One purpose of these humps, is to supply the camel with strength, when it has neither food nor water, and would otherwise die from want.

The foot of the camel is a wonderful thing. It is broad, and has a soft pad at the bottom, which keeps it from sinking in the yielding sand, when the camel crosses the arid deserts.

The camel with two humps on its back is much larger and stronger than the camel with one hump. The one-humped camel is known as the Arabian camel or dromedary. Asia is the home of the camel, but numbers of them are used in Africa and other parts of the world. The camel is trained to kneel down to receive its load, and to let its master get on its back. The camel can smell water at a great distance. When its rider is nearly dead from thirst, and water is near, he can tell it by the greater speed at which the camel begins to travel.

The camel is often called the “ship of the desert.” As the desert is like a sea, and the green spots upon it like islands, so is the camel like a ship, that can carry the traveller from one point to another, quickly and safely. But even with his faithful camel, the traveller does not care to cross the desert alone. The difficulties of keeping in the right track, and the fear of wild Arabs, make it much safer for a number of travellers to cross the desert together.

Travellers take with them camel-drivers and men who know the way, to look after the beasts when they stop for the night. These men light the fires, cook the food, and fill the large skin-bottles with water when they come to a spring. The travellers, camels, and camel-drivers, together, form what is called a caravan.