DIET, AND POWERS OF ABSTINENCE. 87 



in the moist climate and alluvial soil of the 

 lower Arno, are of the Arabian stock, neglect 

 the green and tender cultivated grasses, but de- 

 vour with avidity the leaves and smaller branches 

 of the oak and the alder, and the hard dry stems 

 of the thorn, the thistle, and the broom. The 

 working camels at the grand duke's farm, near 

 Pisa, are sheltered and fed on hay during the 

 winter, but the rest of the herd remain in the 

 open air, and subsist on twigs and withered 

 shrubs through the cold season. 



The Bactrian camel has the same fondness 

 for saline plants as his African congener ; but 

 he feeds also upon the leases, twigs, and bark of 

 deciduous trees, the coarsest grasses, thistles, 

 reeds, rushes, weeds, straw, and, in short, upon 

 such vegetable diet as is rejected by almost every 

 other domestic quadruped. 



The statements of travellers differ very con- 

 siderably with regard to the quantity of solid 

 food required by the camel. My own observa- 

 tion would lead me to think it extremely small. 

 As I have already stated, he is often not fed at 

 all; and in travelling, his only opportunity of 

 gathering his food is between the evening halt 

 and sunset, when he returns to the camp, (for he 

 never feeds in the night,) ^ with such scattering 



1 Burckliardt, Arabia, 34. Fraser, Khorasan, 379. Ta- 

 vernier, i. 121. 



