ADAPTATION OF THE CAMEL. 25 



of boundless deserts, whither no vegetable lux- 

 uriance attracts the beasts of the chase, and 

 whence the more voracious animals are banished 

 by the scarcity of their prey ; and it was not till 

 the sword of the tyrant had driven out victims 

 from the habitable earth and chased them into 

 the wilderness, that the camel became the slave 

 of man. By his subjection, the most barren of 

 soils has become a home for a portion of the 

 human family ; and such is his importance in 

 the economy of desert life, that his extinction 

 would involve the destruction of the whole pop- 

 ulation of those arid regions, of whose nomade 

 existence he is the indispensable condition." 



I shall have occasion hereafter to point out an 

 error into which Volney has fallen, with respect 

 to the exclusive adaptation of the foot to a " dry, 

 even, and sandy surface," but in all other points 

 his description is as accurate as it is eloquent. 



In presence of the improvements of more ad- 

 vanced society, the camel diminishes in numbers 

 and finally gives place to animals better suited 

 to the wants and caprices of higher civilization. 

 Upon good roads, other beasts of draught and 

 burden are upon the whole more serviceable, or, 

 to speak more accurately, more acceptable to 

 the tastes of cultivated nations ; and the un- 

 gainly camel shares in the contempt with which 

 the humble ass, the mule, and even the ox, are 



