Chapter XXXVIII: Arabia

Arabia is the home of the Camel and the Bedouin.

"The Camel may be likened to
A desert ship. (This is not new.)
He is a most ungainly craft,
With frowning turrets fore and aft
We little realize on earth,
How much we owe to his great girth,
For should he ever shrink so small
As through the needle's eye to crawl,
Rich men might climb the golden stairs
And so leave nothing to their heirs."

The Camel is called the ship of the desert because its gait is said to resemble the motion of a ship.

To be strictly accurate it is a hundred times worse than a ship, but not quite so bad as a motor bus.

The Bedouin makes his bed in the sand, or bed-rock, avoiding river-beds or water in any form.

He must not be confounded with the Folding-Bedouins of North America.

The Folding-Bedouins are a semi-nomadic tribe, supposed by some to be related to the Hall-Roomanians and the Red-Inkas of Bohemia.

* * *

The inhabitants of Arabia are the most Moral and Patriotic in the World, and their army is second to none in bravery and won the World War.