on the ground when a
storm is blowing, and to lay his neck and chin along the ground; then
his nose is quite close to the ground, where the storm is not quite so
fierce as in the air.

Of course, when he wants to breathe, he opens his nostrils a tiny bit
to take in a little air; then he closes the nostrils again, and holds
his breath for a little while. He has to keep on doing that as long as
the storm lasts.

But what does his master do, who has been riding on his back? He
cannot close his nostrils; so the only thing he can do is to get off
the camel and huddle against the camel's body on the side far from the
wind; then he brings his face quite close to the ground and holds his
nose with his hand. When he wants to breathe, he opens his fingers
just enough to make a slit and let the _air_ in, but not enough to let
the _sand_ in.

There is another reason why no other animal could cross a desert: his
eyes would be blinded by the fierce glare of the sun. But a camel has
very _thick hair on his eyebrows_, which hang over the eyes, and keep
off the fierce rays of the sun. His eyelashes also are very thick, and
help to keep off the sun in the same way.

But there is a still more wonderful reason why no other animal, except
a camel, could cross a desert. In a desert water is very scarce, and a
traveler crossing a desert on a camel may not find any water for a
whole week. Of course, he carries on his saddle half a dozen bottles
of water to drink; but after drinking some of the water each day, he
has not much to spare for the poor camel. Then what is the poor camel
to do?

Of course, you may say that his master should carry more water for the
camel to drink. But the load of goods which the camel has to carry is
already so heavy that there is not much room for any more water. Then
what _can_ the poor camel do?

Why, he _carries his own drinking water_, not in the load on his back,
but _inside his stomach_! Is not that a wonderful thing? His stomach
is made differently from that of any other animal. The stomach of any
other animal, Or even a man's stomach, is so made that the water drunk
at any time is all used up in the next few hours; that is why any
other animal, or even a man, has to have another drink after those few
hours.

But a camel's stomach is so made that it has one big place for food
and drink like the stomach of any other animal, but it also has many
smaller places arranged all around the stomach; these sm