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ARABIA is a large country of Asia; there are few rivers in it; there are few towns or trees, but there are a great deal of sand, and wide deserts.

Only a few of the people live in houses, the greater number live in tents; they have very fine horses; they love their horses very much, and are very kind to them.

The horses live with them in the tents, and never kick or hurt the children. Some of the Arabs are merchants; some are shepherds, and some are robbers.

The merchants cannot carry goods which they buy, and sell, as we do in ships and boats; because there are not rivers to sail upon in Arabia.

The Arabians have an animal which is very useful to them. This is the camel. He travels for them, gives them milk, and his hair makes their clothes. He is of as much use to the Arabian as the horse, the cow, and the sheep are to us: he is as useful to him, as the rein deer is to the poor Laplander.

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The camels carry loads of three or four hundred pounds; they kneel down to take up the load, and rise when it is put on; they will not allow more to be put upon their backs than they

can carry; if more is put on, they cry loudly till it is taken off.

When they are loaded, the camel trots about twenty-five miles in a day; but when the camel carries only a man upon his back, he can travel one hundred and fifty-miles in one day.

The camel drinks a great quantity of water at once; he has a safe place in his stomach, where he can keep the water a long time, and when he is thirsty, he wets his mouth by forcing up some of the water.

One sort of camel is called the dromedary. Some kinds of the camel have one bunch on the back, others have two bunches. Camels live forty or fifty years. There is a kind of camel in South America, called a lama.

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The form of the tiger resembles that of a cat. He is about three feet high, and six feet long. His strength is but little inferior to that of the lion. It is said he often gives battle to the lion, and on account of his superior activity, overcomes him.

Instances have been known of his carrying off a horse, or a buffalo, passing rapidly over the uneven ground, apparently very little hindered by his enormous load.

The body of the tiger is yellow, beautifully striped with black. He has black rings round his

tail, and legs. Tigers are found in the South of Asia, Africa, and other warm countries.

The tiger, like the lion, springs upon his prey from an ambush, very much as a cat springs upon He lurks about in marshy and swampy places, and when he kills an animal, he usually first sucks its blood, and then devours his flesh.

a mouse.

In narrow passes in Hindostan, travellers have often been seized by tigers; or a bullock, or a horse, has fallen a victim to his ferocity. Horses have such a dread of the tiger, that they can scarcely ever be brought to face him.

The tigers which we see in cages, are caught| when young. They are found and taken when the mother is absent. When she returns and finds she pursues after them with

her
young ones gone,
great fury.

A young tiger was once brought to England in a ship. He was gentle and playful as a kitten.— He often slept with the sailors, and while lying on the floor or deck of the ship in the sun, he would allow two or three of them to lay their heads upon him, as if he were a pillow.

He would often run up the mast of the ship, and spring from one rope to another. He would play with the people in the ship like a young dog.

When he was a month old they put him in a cage. Here he allowed a small dog to live with him in his cage, and when the little dog played with him, and bit his foot in sport, he only lifted it out of his way.

When he had been in his cage two years, one of the sailors from the ship in which he was brought, went to see him. The tiger knew him instantly and appeared to be very much pleased to see him.

The wild tiger is a fierce and terrible animal; and in the countries where he lives, horses, deer, and even human beings, become his prey.

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upon it with a furious bound, and seizes it in his strong claws.

He then tears it in pieces and devours the flesh, and sometimes the bones, He usually seeks his prey in the night; and is sly and skulking, like a cat, in his method of pursuing other animals.

The color of the lion is a yellowish red; his mane is dark colored, and sometimes black. When he is at rest, his aspect is very grave and majestic. When he is enraged, his look is terrible.

He then lashes his sides with his tail, lifts up his bristling mane, curls his lip with a malicious expression, discloses his strong teeth, and his eyes sparkle with such brightness that they seem to emit fire.

He belongs to hot countries; to Asia and Africa. The Africans use the lion's skin to sleep upon.The lion loves his keeper, and allows him to play with him; he is not cruel to some animals.

Little dogs have been put into his den, and he has given them food, and played with them. The lion has been known to live seventy years.

In the southern part of Africa, where the Hottentots live, lions are very common, and the adventures of the inhabitants with them are very frequent. One evening a Hottentot saw that he was pursued by a lion. He was very much alarmed, and devised the following means of escape.

He went to the edge of a precipice, and placed himself a little below it. He then put his cloak and hat on a stick, and elevated them over his head, giving them a gentle motion.

The lion came crouching along, and, mistaking the cloak and hat for the man, as the Hottentot intended he should do, he sprang upon them, with a swift leap, and, passing over the head of the Hottentot, was plunged headlong down the precipice.

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