2-979-063 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Camel-drivers' Encampment in the Desert, 1857. 'The camels are unladen, and most of them, weary with the day's work, lie about in uncouth and grotesque attitudes...The camel-drivers...betake themselves to the enjoyment of a pipe or a narghely...two old worthies, to whom the spot has been familiar from infancy, are inhaling with gusto the fragrant smoke of their respective pipes...Nearer still is one of their number, who, completely overcome by the heat and fatigue of the day, has sunk into a deep sleep, with, nothing but a hard stone (like Jacob of old) for his pillow. The two nearest figures in the group are evidently native travellers - one of whom, pipe and tobacco-bag in hand, is meditating on what next to do, sleep or smoke; while his wearied companion has sunk into a deep repose, his head supported against a pile of travelling-bags containing his own and his comrade's personal property'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.