KUMINANTS. 



501 



without drinking ; and if during this space of time his food has been 

 still more scanty than his sober habits demand, or the few dates, beans, 

 or cakes usually in store for him are exhausted, the fat which com- 

 poses almost the whole of the hump or humps upon his back serves 

 as an extra supply of nutriment : the humps become reduced in 

 size ; their substance reabsorbed, is taken into the general circula- 

 tion, and supports him to the end of his jom-ney, or until he sinks 

 under privations which no other animal diifterently constituted could 

 have borne for half the period. To the wild Arab of the Desert, 

 the Camel is all that his necessities require ; he feeds on the flesh, 

 drinks the milk, makes clothes and tents of the hair ; sandals, 

 saddles, and buckets of the hide ; he conveys himself and family on 

 his back ; makes a pillow of his side, and resorts to him for shelter 

 against the whirlwind of sand. Couched in a circle around him, 

 his Camels form a fence, and in battle an entrenchment, behind 

 which his family and his property are obstinately, and often success- 

 fully, defended. 



The Llamas (Atichenia*) are the representatives of 

 the Camels in the New World, but possess neither their 

 strength nor size. Their proportions are lighter; they 



i'^^ 



Fig. 428.— llama. 



have no humps ; and their toes not being joined, are 

 sufRciently moveable to enable them to climb rocks with 



* <^vxT]v, auchen, tlie throat ; — so called from their pendulous 

 throats. 



