The wild brushwood, in which it was not very difficult to be lost, was inhabited by great numbers of the feathered tribe. I observed small birds of several different kinds, but saw none with rich plumage. The river here has fallen so considerably, that one-half of its bed is quite dry, composed of sand and clay. banks.

At sunset I passed through an extensive camp of Arabs they were as civil and as respectful as those I had hitherto met with, and appeared to be living in the most primitive state, chiefly employed in making a cloth from the wool of their sheep. They first spin it into yarn, winding the threads round small stones; these they hang on a stick, fixed in a horizontal position, between some shrubs or trees, to form a woof; then passing other threads alternately between these, they thus weave the cloth with which they clothe themselves. None of these encampments afforded a drop of milk, or a single egg. Towards night, parties of both sexes were crossing the stream in

ARAB ENCAMPMENT.

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a state of nudity, upon a stratum of rush, which is evidently of the same kind as the "vessels of bulrushes upon the waters," alluded to by Isaiah, in chap. xviii. ver. 2.

CHAPTER II.

Village of Koote.-Its situation.—The Camel and the Dromedary. The Canal of Hye. - Singular amusement.— Ruins of a bridge. Supposition respecting them.-General aspect of the Desert.-Approach to the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon.-No swans to be seen.-Extensive sandbanks.-Navigation of the Tigris.-Weapons of the Arabs. -The lion. The Eelauts, a wandering tribe. Their behaviour. The Author's progress impeded.-Remarkable ruins. Extensive searches.

wall.-Mumlihah.-Unsuccessful re

OCTOBER 29th.-This day brought me to Koote, a wretched village composed of a collection of cottages constructed with mud, and surrounded by a wall of the same material. It is situated on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and is erroneously reckoned half-way between Bussorah and Bagdad, since it is more by a journey of two days. Its position also is incorrectly laid down on the map of Colonel Macdonald Kinneir; for during the last eight-and

THE CAMEL AND THE DROMEDARY.

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forty hours, our course has varied from E. S. E. to S. S. W. and W. S. W., making almost nothing to the North. Large herds of camels were grazing in every direction, left without men or dogs: some allowed the stranger to approach, and betrayed no alarm; whilst others appeared much frightened, and were extremely wild. They were all of a white colour, and belonged to a powerful Arab chief, who resided in the neighbourhood.

Mr. Buckingham, whose extensive travels in the East were attended by circumstances which gave him every facility of correct observation, has, in his work on Mesopotamia, rendered a faithful description of this valuable inhabitant of the Desert. He remarks, that "the prevailing opinion in Europe is, that of the two kinds of this animal, the single-humped is the camel, and the double-humped the dromedary. The fact, however, is nearer the reverse. The double-humped camel is found only in Bactria, and the countries to the north and east of Persia ; and these, being natives of a colder climate, and living in more fertile countries than the other

species, are shorter, thicker, more muscular, covered with a dark-brown shaggy hair, and heavier and stronger by far than any other camels. From this race of the double-humped animal, I am not aware of dromedaries being ever produced. The only camel seen in Arabia, Africa, Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia, is the single-humped. This, inhabiting a hot climate, and having always a scanty supply of food and water, is taller, more slender, of a paler colour, and altogether lighter in form and flesh, than the Bactrian camel, Its hair is as short, and its skin as sleek, as that of the horses or bullocks of England. It is from this race only that dromedaries are produced; these are merely single-humped camels of good blood and breed, which, instead of being used for burthen, are appropriated only to carrying riders and performing journeys of speed. They bear indeed the same relation to other single-humped camels, that race-horses do to other horses: care being taken, by preserving the purity of their descent, and improving their blood, to keep them always fit for and appropriated to