220 



BRANCH VERTEBRATA. 



an overhanging bony arch and long-lashed eyelids, and 

 with the sight habitually directed to the path, gives sure- 

 footedness.* 



FIG. 382. 



Came'lus bactrla'nus. Bactrian Camel. ( g l s .) 



The Bactrian Camel has two humps, and is adapted 

 by its more abundant coat to the colder climates, as the 

 Dromedary is to the warmer. It is a native of Central 

 Asia, where it is still found wild, though it is a disputed 



* The Camel, poetically called by the Arab the " ship of the desert," constitutes 

 his wealth. Its milk, and often its flesh, furnishes him food ; its skin, leather ; its 

 hair, clothing ; its excrement, fuel ; and, in an extremity, the water in its stomach 

 will save his life. It will carry 600 and even 1000 Ibs. burden. A swift dromedary 

 will travel 10 miles per hour for 20 hours on a stretch. Its gait has a peculiar 

 swinging, jerking motion, that is terribly trying to the novice. Its disposition is 

 said to be naturally gentle, but the brutality of its drivers often renders it ugly. 

 Thus says a traveler : " Watch it when it is being loaded. See its keeper strug- 

 gling frantically, and making it kneel only by sheer force, and when down, keep- 

 ing it there by tying neck and fore legs together tightly. Hear it grumbling in 

 deep, bubbling tones, with mouth savagely opened as each new burden is laid on 

 its back. Look how it refuses to rise until a part is removed ; then see it get up 

 a great, brown mountain, still groaning and bubbling and dash to and fro, 

 shaking off beds, furniture, and trunks, in a shower. Mark it, subdued by blows, 

 march through the day, occasionally biting at a passer-by, and at night kneel 

 to have its load removed, grumbling as ever. Certainly not the picture of our 

 ideal patient animal ! " 



