CHAPTER yill. 



USEFUL PRODUCTS OF THE CAMEL. 



The milk of the camel is a very favorite 

 drink in all countries where the animal is used. 

 Colonel Chesney, indeed, describes it as poor 

 and slightly saline ; but the Arabs, as well as 

 almost all travellers, represent it as highly salu- 

 brious and nutritious ; and Tavernier vouches 

 for it as a sovereign remedy for the dropsy. It 

 is universally believed to be a corrective of the 

 heating effects of the date, and the Arabs never 

 use that fruit in large quantities without milk. 

 Some of the pastoral tribes possessing large 

 herds, live almost wholly upon it during a great 

 part of the year, and it is frequently given to the 

 mahari and to favorite horses, which are ex- 

 tremely fond of it. It is asserted by the Arabs, 

 that this diet fattens the quarters and shoulders 

 only of the horse, but not the barrel.^ In a note 

 to a chapter of Daumas, Les C/ievaux du Sahara^ 



1 The camel cannot be fattened, says BurckLardt, after 

 he reaches his sixteenth year. 



