"good streaks," never reported the Camanches,
but they manifested a disposition thereafter to settle quietly upon
their own reservation and cultivate the peaceful arts, and they always
treated their neighbors, the Diggers, with respect, though unmingled
with affection.

[Illustration: "LITTLE BO-PEEP, SHE WENT TO SLEEP."]

SOLIMIN: A SHIP OF THE DESERT.

BY SUSAN COOLIDGE.

I asked a party of children once the meaning of the word "desert," and
all but one shouted out, "rice pudding and oranges!" having in their
minds the dinner which we had just eaten. That one, who was older than
the rest, said, rather shyly, "A big piece of land, aunty, isn't it?"
but even he didn't know how big,--or that there is a difference in
spelling between the _dessert_ which people eat and the _desert_ which
sometimes eats people, closing its jaws of sand, and swallowing them up
as easily as a boy swallows a cherry.

The biggest desert in the world is in Africa, and is called the Sahara.
It is almost as large as the Atlantic Ocean, but instead of water it is
all sands and rocks. Like the ocean, it is visited with storms;
dreadful gales, when the wind scoops up thousands of tons of sand and
drives them forward, burying and crushing all they meet. And it has
islands, too--small green patches, where springs bubble through the
ground, and ferns and acacias and palm-trees grow. When a traveler sees
one of these fertile spots afar off, he feels as a tempest-tossed
sailor does at sight of land. It is delightful to quit the hot, baking
sun, sit in shadow under the trees, and rest the eyes, long wearied
with dazzling sands, on the sweet green and the clear spring. Oases,
these islands are called. Long distances divide them. It is often a
race for life to get across from one to the other. Sometimes people do
not get across! In 1805, a caravan of 2,000 persons died miserably of
heat and thirst in the great desert, and the sand covered them up. Do
you wonder at my saying that the desert eats men?

Now, you will be puzzled to guess what sort of ship it is which swims
this dry ocean. It is the camel--an animal made by God to endure these
dreadful regions, in which no other beast of burden can live and
travel. I dare say many of you have seen camels in menageries. They are
ugly animals, but very strong, swift and untiring. With a load of 800
pounds on his back, a camel will travel for days at the rate of eight
miles an hour, which is as