rth
piercing cries, and stretched out its long neck. The blood flowed from
its nostrils, the sweat from every pore; but not an inch forward would
the creature move; yet one step would have placed it in the boat, the
sides of which were touched by its fore legs.

We could not endure the painful spectacle. "No more of this," we cried
to the ferryman; "it is useless to beat the animal. You might break its
legs or kill it before it would consent to enter your boat." The two men
at once left off, for they were tired, the one of pulling, the other of
beating. What were we to do? We had almost made up our minds to ascend
the banks of the river until we found some flat boat, when the ferryman
all at once jumped up, radiant with an idea. "We will make another
attempt," cried he, "and if that fails I give the matter up. Take the
string gently," he added, to a companion, "and keep the camel's feet as
close as ever you can to the side of the boat." Then, going back for
some paces, he dashed forward with a spring and threw himself with all
his weight upon the animal's rear. The shock, so violent and unexpected,
occasioned the camel somewhat to bend its fore legs. A second shock
immediately succeeded the first, and the animal, in order to prevent
itself from falling into the water, had no remedy but to raise its feet
and place them within the boat. This effected, the rest was easy. A few
pinches of the nose and a few blows sufficed to impel the hind legs after
the fore, and the white camel was at last in the boat, to the extreme
satisfaction of all present. The other animals were embarked after the
same fashion, and we proceeded on our watery way.

First, however, the ferryman deemed it necessary that the animals should
kneel, so that no movement of theirs on the river might occasion an
overturn. His proceeding to this effect was exceedingly comic. He first
went to one camel and then to the other, pulling now this down, then
that. When he approached the larger animal, the creature, remembering
the man's treatment, discharged in his face a quantity of the grass
ruminating within its jaws, a compliment which the boatman returned by
spitting in the animal's face. And the absurdity was, that the work made
no progress. One camel was no sooner induced to kneel down than the
other got up, and so the men went backwards and forwards, gradually
covered by the angry creatures with the green substance, half masticated
and par