Travels in Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria, and across the desert into Egypt ...

SYRIA, EGYPT, GERMANY, &C. l6l
lainous territory, where a scanty superficies of soil, spread over the
rocks, affords a feeble hope of pasturage.
The animal fooxl of the Syrians consists principally of mutton
and goat's, flesh, and they consume but a very small proportion of
beef, and no veal. They are, indeed, very sparing
in their use of
flesh, chiefly confining themselves in their diet to the vegetable productions
they have in such great abundance, and of such excel-
lent qualities.
The horses are small, but fleet, and very sure footed. In their
choice of them,
the Turkish inhabitants attach themselves rather
to the figure and showy appearance of the beast, than to his fleet-
ness and other useful qualities. During our stay in the country, a
good horse brought from four to five hundred piastres, that is, from
thirty to nearly forty pounds English.
The mules are very numerous, and of a large breed. This remark
also applies to the asses ; and the latter are much more swift
of pace than those of England.
As a beast of burden, the camel has a remarkable pre-eminence
in point of utility. The inhabitants being destitute of for
carriages
the conveyance
of their merchandise from place to place, such
vehicles being incompatible with the state of the roads and Country,
have necessarily recourse* to this animal, to perform the labours to
which the mule, from his comparatively
diminutive stature, cannot
be subjected. This is not the only advantage
which has resulted to
the Syrians, from the pains they have bestowed in the propagation
of their race of camels, whose patient endurance of fatigues is only
to be equalled by the parsimonious support which their nature re-
quires. In crossing the deserts, or in performing other tedious
and laborious journies where water cannot be procured, they pass
several days in succession without allaying their thirst; and make
a hard and scantv meal on the shrubs and bushes they may chance
to encounter on their wav, without subjecting their masters to the
necessity of loading them, in addition to their other burdens, with
provender for their support. A smaller and more slender species
of
the camel, called hedgin, is mounted by the natives and others, and
is capable of making a greater progress, on a long journey, than
a horse. It requires some habit to be reconciled to its motion,
which is, however, not so fatiguing as might be supposed from
.'he appearance of the animal, for its pace being by long and re^u-
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