104 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



furniture of a camp, he rarely treads on the smallest article. The 

 nostrils are fringed with long hairs, and provided with sphincters, 

 which enable the animal to close them, and thus to exclude insects and 

 the sand with which the desert winds are so often charged, while the 

 hairs, to a considerable extent, perform the same office during the 

 occasional partial opening of the apertures, required for respiration. 

 The Bedouins understand the value of a wide nostril as well as a 

 Newmarket jockey, and they frequently slit the nose of the animal in 

 such a way as to give each aperture the form of a Y. The slitting of 

 the nostrils is a common preparation for a race, and I once saw this 

 absurd operation performed upon a dozen young dromedaries, which 

 were to contend for the prize on the following day. 



The camel is provided with seven callosities, which receive the shock 

 of his fall in lying down for repose, or at the command of his master 

 for the convenience of mounting or dismounting, or of loading and un- 

 loading, and the weight of the body is supported by them when at rest. 

 One of these is upon the breast nearly between the fore legs, two upon 

 each of the fore, and one upon each of the hinder legs. The callosities 

 upon the breast and at the knees are evidently organic, as they consist 

 of a horny substance and are found in the foetus. The others appear 

 to be a mere thickening of the skin, and the}'' may be the effect of fric- 

 tion and pressure. The full development of the callosities is one of 

 the "points" of a good maherry, and it ought to be accompanied with 

 a slender barrel, so that in the recumbent posture the belly shall scarcely 

 touch the ground. 



In lying down the animal throws himself slightly forward, and first 

 bending one lore leg, poises himself for an instant, and then falls sud- 

 denly upon the callosities at the knees; he now advances the hind feet 

 a little and drops upon the gambrel joint ; the callus upon the breast is 

 brought to the ground by a third descent, and those upon the upper 

 and forward part of the hind leg by a fourth. Each of these move- 

 ments, (which are renewed in rising,) and especially the first, is at- 

 tended with a considerable shock ; and the inexperienced rider is very 

 apt to be thrown over the camel's head, unless he steadies himself by 

 holding fast to the saddle pins. The Arabs slide down from and climb 

 up to the saddle, without making the animal kneel, or even stopping 

 him, and any active man may readily lenrn to do the same, but Eu- 

 ropeans seldom practice this method. The French soldiers in Algeria 

 use a long stirrup with two steiJs to mount by, and a loop upon a lance, 

 such as were used by some ancient mounted troops, or attached to a 

 musket, might answer the same purpose. 



The foot of the camel is equally adapted to treading upon yielding 

 sand and to climbing the rugged rock, which, in all extensive deserts, 

 forms a much larger proportion of the surface than accumulations of 

 sand. The surface of the wilderness is in general a hard, compact, 

 gravelly soil, or composed of loose stones or bare rocks, and wherever 

 it is not too hard for wear, or too soft permanently to retain impres- 

 sions, the valleys pursued by the caravans are furrowed with paths 

 which have been thousands of years in wearing. These tracks are 15 

 or 18 miles wide, and four or five inches deep, running generally par- 

 allel to each other at a couple of yards apart, and now and then inter- 



