In an incredibly short space of time the tents were down, and the
_douar_ with all its belongings was no longer to be seen; or only in the
shape of sundry packages balanced upon the backs of the animals.
The last operation before striking out upon the desert track, was the
watering of these: the supply for the journey having been already dipped
up out of the pool, and poured into goat's-skin sacks.
The watering of the camels appeared to be regarded as the most important
matter of all. In this performance every precaution was taken, and
every attention bestowed, to ensure to the animals a full supply of the
precious fluid, perhaps from a presentiment on the part of their owners
that they themselves might some day stand in need of, and make use of,
the same water!
Whether this was the motive or not, every camel belonging to the horde
was compelled to drink till its capacious stomach was quite full; and
the quantity consumed by each would be incredible to any other than the
owner of an African dromedary. Only a very large cask could have
contained it.
At the watering of the animals our adventurers had an opportunity of
observing another incident of the Saara, quite as curious and original
as that already described.
It chanced that the pool that furnished the precious fluid, and which
contained the only fresh water to be found within fifty miles, was just
then on the eve of being dried up. A long season of drought, that is to
say, three or four years, had reigned over this particular portion of
the desert; and the lagoon, formerly somewhat extensive, had shrunk into
the dimensions of a trifling tank, containing little more than two or
three hundred gallons. This during the stay of the two tribes united as
wreckers had been daily diminishing; and had the occupants of the
_douar_ not struck tents at the time they did, in another day or so they
would have been in danger of suffering from thirst. This was in reality
the cause of their projected migration. But for the fear of getting
short in the necessary commodity of fresh water, they would have hugged
the seashore a little longer--in hopes of picking up a few more "waifs"
from the wreck of the English ship.
At the hour of their departure from the encampment, the pool was on the
eve of exhaustion. Only a few score gallons of not very pure water
remained in it, about enough to fill the capacious stomachs of the
camels; whose owners had gauged them too often to be ignorant of the
quantity.
It would not do to play with this closely calculated supply. Every pint
was precious; and to prove that it was so esteemed, the animals were
constrained to swallow it in a fashion which certainly nature could
never have intended.
Instead of taking it in by the mouth, the camels of these Saaran rovers
were compelled to quench their thirst through the nostrils!
You will wonder in what manner this could be effected, inquiring whether
the quadrupeds voluntarily performed this nasal imbibing?
Our adventurers, witnesses of the fact, wondered also--while struck with
its quaint peculiarity.
There is a proverb that "one man may take a horse to the water, but
twenty cannot compel him to drink." Though this proverb may hold good
of an English horse, it has no significance when applied to an African
dromedary. Proof: our adventurers saw the owner of each camel bring his
animal to the edge of the pool; but instead of permitting the thirsty
creature to step in and drink for itself, its head was held aloft; a
wooden funnel was filled, the narrow end inserted into the nostril, and
by the respiratory canal the water introduced to the throat and stomach.
You may ask, why this selection of the nostrils, instead of the mouth?
Our adventurers so interrogated one another. It was only after becoming
better acquainted with the customs of the Saara, that they acquired a
satisfactory explanation of one they had frequent occasion to observe.
Though ordinarily of the most docile disposition, and in most of its
movements the most tranquil of creatures, the dromedary, when drinking
from a vessel, has the habit of repeatedly shaking its head, and
spilling large quantities of the water placed before it. Where water is
scarce, and, as in the Saara, considered the most momentous matter of
life, a waste of it after such fashion could not be tolerated. To
prevent it, therefore, the camel-owner has contrived that this animal,
so essential to his own safe existence, should drink through the
orifices intended by nature for its respiration.