wood for their tents
or houses. From the sap they make wine. Out of the leaf-stalks they
weave baskets.

4. Some of the Arabs are traders. They carry their goods from oasis to
oasis on the backs of camels. A large number of laden camels form a
caravan.

[Illustration: {Caravan of camels}]

5. A camel is not pretty to look at, but the Arab could not do without
it. I think you can easily understand why the camel is called the "ship
of the desert." It carries its master or its load across the sea of sand
from one green island to another.

[Illustration: The Halt in the Desert.

(From the picture by J.F. Lewis, R.A., in the South Kensington
Museum.)]

6. The hoofs of the camel are broad, and this prevents them from sinking
into the sand. The camel can go for a long time without food or water.

7. The camel is very useful to the Arab, both when it is alive and when
it is dead. It gives him milk to drink, and its hair is useful for
making clothes, tents, and ropes.

8. I think I told you that when I was sailing along the canal I saw a
caravan. It was then beginning to cross the desert. Very likely, weeks
or months will pass away before its journey comes to an end.

9. There are no roads across the desert, so it is very easy for a
caravan to lose its way. Then the men and camels wander on until all
their food and water are finished. At last they fall to the ground, and
die of hunger and thirst.

10. Dreadful sand-storms often arise. The storm beats down upon the
caravan, and sometimes chokes both men and camels. A journey across the
desert is full of dangers.

11. Before I close this letter, let me tell you a little story. One day
an Arab belonging to a caravan overslept himself at an oasis. When he
awoke, the caravan had started on its journey again, and was many miles
away.

12. The Arab followed the caravan, in the hope of catching it up. On and
on he walked, but nothing could he see of it. Then darkness came on, and
he lay on the sand and slept until morning.

13. When the sun rose he began his journey again. Hours passed, but
still there was no sign of the caravan. At last he was quite overcome by
hunger and thirst. He fell to the ground, and was too weak to rise
again.

14. Looking around, he saw something black lying on the sand, not far
away. He crawled to it, and found that it was a small bag which had
fallen from the back of a camel.

15. The poor Arab was filled with joy. He hoped that the bag