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advancing in a gigantic circular ring. When they drew
near, it seemed to me that there were dummies attached
to the camels and were jolting and rocking in a strange
manner. Drawn swords were waved to the tune of the
rocking and jolting movement. But when the rushing
patch drew to a distance of one kilometer and appeared
immediately before the platforms, I was surprised to
discover almost bare children
riding the camels and knew
not how they managed to stay put despite the jolting and
rocking movement at such a great speed, as they were
wearing thin shirts and barefooted, and resisting the cold
winds that were blowing in their faces. But when they
arrived, having run about twenty kilometers to the final
line, their faces were shining with smiles of pride. The
voice of the commentators began to resound in the radio,
full of pleasure and ecstasy that was undulating over the
platforms. Then stood the adults who lifted the winner
from the back of the whitened camel, on account of the salt
that was discharged with the sweat that covered the camel’s
body and hair. Strangely enough, a young boy whose height
barely reached the knee of the camel and who was less than
fourteen
years old, was the winner.
The ceremony of distributing the trophies took place
in a majestic and grandiose atmosphere. The winner
approached the compartment of Prince Abdullah. On
his face one could see solemn signs of self-confidence.
He reciprocated the shake hand of Prince Abdullah, who
handed him over the winner’s certificate and a check for
a million Saudi Riyals (about three hundred thousand
Dollars), with a polite smile. The prince embraced the
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winner tenderly after handing the check over to him. The
second winner was an eighteen-year old boy who was
given, in addition to the winning certificate, a check for
half a million Saudi Riyals. (2500 camels participated in
the race, 250 at a time).
But let us go back again to our camels and talk about
their great adaptability and ways of life and their ability
to bear the extreme desert conditions. Camels breathe
more slowly than other mammals; their body temperature
is higher and they transpire more slowly . But when this
does happen, their hair operates as a insulator, which
makes it possible for their body temperature not to exceed
a certain limit. But in the cold weather, it, on the contrary,
preserves body temperature. Thus, in the winter, their hair
grows more actively specially on the hump, the neck, the
shoulders and head, its length sometimes reaching that of
the camel’s tail. But as summer draws near, the hair begins
to fall and may be compared to wool for its softness.
The camel’s body exudes very small quantities of water
and its kidneys excrete highly concentrated urine whose
smell is not rancid because of the plants it eats. In the old
times, and perhaps even today, bedouins washed their hair
therewith. It is probably for this reason, and thanks to the
use of black camphire, that beautiful bedouin women pride
themselves on their curly and shining hair as compared to
the hair of other local women.
Feeding camels is not costly in terms of the type of
food that they eat. Thus they eat tree leaves, regularly and
in small dozes, without moving from one tree to another,
before exhausting the leaves of individual trees. Nor do