70 THE CAMEL. 



that " the female of neither race is of much value 

 for burden," and Burckhardt says she is inferior 

 to the male in strength, but is considered both 

 swifter and better able to support thirst. 



It is not easy to learn much from the Arabs 

 respecting the periods in the biography of the 

 camel. " Few Bedouins know their own age or 

 that of their children, and they cannot be ex- 

 pected to possess a better acquaintance with the 

 chronology of their cattle." The age at which 

 he becomes serviceable varies with breed, climate, 

 and other circumstances, but in general he is put 

 to labor in his third year, and arrives at his full 

 strength earlier or later in his fourth. His lon- 

 gevity is more uncertain. In India, according to 

 Forbes, he lives but twenty-five years. In Al- 

 geria, he does not attain a greater age than 

 thirty years, and he is fit for labor from fifteen to 

 twenty. In Syria and Asia Minor, his ordinary 

 life and service are ten years longer. A corre- 

 spondent in Bessarabia estimates the average life 

 of the Bactrian in that province at thirty-five 

 years ; while a Russian officer, of much experi- 

 ence in the use of this animal in the Crimea, 

 assures me that he lives ordinarily to the age of 

 sixty or seventy, and sometimes even to a hun- 

 dred. In any event, it is well settled that his 

 term of life and period of useful service very 

 considerably exceed those of the horse. 



