these cells become filled and afterward
slowly give up the water as the stomach requires. It may be truly said
that the camel is a camel because of the desert and not in spite of it.

The sparse population of the Sahara--Arabs, Berbers, and negroes--are
dependent upon the camel, for until the railway shall traverse the
Sahara the camel will be practically the only means of transportation.
The camel's flesh furnishes about the only meat consumed by the dwellers
of the desert, for ordinary cattle can live only in a few localities
along the desert border lands.

The native people of the desert are mainly of the race to which the
Arabs also belong, although there are many Arabs and negroes. The
Tuaregs and Bedouin Arabs are the best known. The Tuaregs are thought to
be the descendants of the Berbers and of the same race as the
Carthaginians, whom the Romans many times defeated but never conquered.
They have whiter skins than the Arabs and in appearance are perhaps the
finest peoples of Africa. They are also the most ferocious and
blood-thirsty villains on the face of the earth. Many of them live in
the white-walled cities such as Ghadames, Kand, and Timbuktu--all large
centres of population.

Their government is well organized. Each of the larger tribes is
governed by a sultan, and in each there are several castes--a sort of
nobility of unmixed Tuareg blood being at the head and negro slaves at
the lower end of the social ladder. The families of the highest caste
are usually well-to-do, and both the men and the women are taught to
read and write. The garments usually worn by a Tuareg man consist of
white trousers, a gray tunic with white sleeves, sandals of ornamented
leather, and a white turban. When away from home the Tuareg covers the
lower half of the face by a cloth mask.

The usual occupation of the Tuaregs is twofold--to guard caravans or to
rob them. The average Tuareg is perfectly indifferent as to which he
does. A caravan from the Sudan enters, we will say, Kano. The garfla
sheik pack master, or superintendent, goes at once to the financial
agent of the sultan and pays the usual liken, or tariff charges. Then
he goes to the sultan himself and incidentally leaves in his possession
a generous money present. Then, if he desires, he may hire half a dozen
or more guards.

The hiring of these will insure the caravan against theft or robbery on
the part of the predatory bands living at Kano. The guards will also
fa