A desert is a vast dry land of sand with very hot climate. The surface of some parts of it is bare and dry clay baked and as hard as a road.. Some areas were also of bare rock, so hot that it would cook an egg almost as quickly as a hot frying pan does.
Men couldn't pass across it without the help of camels. These animals have lived in dry countries so long that they are able to carry men and goods across the desert for several days without eating or drinking. The camel can do this because of his hump which is a kind of a camel's pantry. When he gets plenty to eat, he gets fat and stores the fat in his hump. Then he can go for a week walking, carrying loads never eats nor drinks; but each day the hump gets smaller and smaller, for he is living on the fat that he has stored there.
Then, too, the camels can make a good meal of the twigs of the desert thorn bushes. His mouth and teeth are not like of those of any other animals,and he can eat thorns as though they were soft grass.
The camel would rather walk on soft sand than on a good, hard road. His feet were like a cushion that would spread when it come down to the sand.Unlike sharp hooves of goat or sheep that would sink on sand, his cushion-like hooves don't.
In the desert, sand storms are prevalent. Clouds of dust and sand as large as thunderclouds sweep down upon travelers. If it's a mild sandstorm, the camels will turn their tails to the wind and stand still. Men cover their head with their loose robes. If its a hard sandstorm, the beast would lie down, the men also lie down beside the animals and cover their heads with cloths to keep out the stiffling sand and choking dust. Here, both beasts and men must swelter for hours,sometimes even for a whole day until the hot rain of burning yellow sand and dust stops.
It is just so wonderful and amazing that their is an animal that can go on so well in hard situations..
Additionally, there were two kinds of camels.The dromedaries and the two-humped camels. Dromedaries were usually the ones that live in Africa and other very hot places. It has short hair to protect it from the heat whilst the two-humped camel grows thick winter coat to withstands the harsh winter of central asia.. they were designed naturally to go on so well very hard situations, as we know that food and water is scarce in the desert thats why they have those humps to store fats for metabolism which no other animal cant.
Do men still use this kind of transportation across the desert until these days?
How does it feel traveling across those vast lands of sands with sandstorms on the way?
Am sure there were people who lost their track on the desert during a sandstorm, as it would wash away old tracks and landscape would change?Some may even have died when lost due to dehydration?
all photos used credit to pixabay
z_graeden
Merry Christmas 😁