706 SPEED OF THE CAMEL. 
accumulated by a young and untried animal. It is supposed that the Camel is, in some 
way, able to dilate the honeycomb cells, and to force them to receive a large quantity of 
the priceless liquid. 
A large and experienced Camel will receive five or six quarts of water into its stomach, 
and is enabled to exist for as many days without needing to drink. Aided by this internal 
supply of water, the Camel can satiate its hunger by browsing on the hard and withered 
thorns that are found scattered thinly through the deserts, and suffers no injury to its 
palate from their iron-like spears, that would direfully wound the mouth of any less 
sensitive creature. The Camel has even been known to eat pieces of dry wood, and to 
derive apparent satisfaction from its strange meal. 
The feet of the Camel are well adapted for walking upon the loose, dry sand, than 
which substance is no more uncertain footing. The toes are very broad, and are furnished 
with soft, wide cushions, that present a considerable surface to the loose soil, and enable 
the animal to maintain a firm hold upon the shifting sands. As the Camel is constantly 
forced to kneel in order to be loaded or reheyed of its burden, it is furnished upon the 
knees and breast with thick callous pads, which support its weight without injuring the 
skin, Thus fitted by nature for its strange life, the Camel faces the desert sands with 
boldness, and traverses the arid regions with an ease and quiet celerity that has gained 
for the creature the title of Ship of the Desert. 
The Camel is invariably employed as an animal of carriage, when in its native land, 
and is able to support a load of five or six hundred pounds’ weight without being over- 
loaded. The Arab will not willingly injure his Camel by placing too heavy a burden 
upon its back, but in India, and some other countries where the Camel has been 
naturaljzed and domesticated, its treatment is barbarous in the extreme. Hundreds of 
valuable animals are annually sacrificed on account of the covetousness of their owners, 
who know that they will receive payment for every Camel that falls upon the journey, and 
are consequently indifferent to the suffermg and condition of those animals which they 
have nominally taken under their care. 
The pace of the Camel is not nearly so rapid as is generally supposed, and even the 
speed of the Heirie, or swift Camel, has been greatly exaggerated. “In crossing the 
Nubian desert,” says Captain Peel, “T paid constant attention to the march of the Camels, 
hoping it might be of some service hereafter in determining our position. The number of 
strides in a minute with the same foot varied very little, only from thirty-seven to thirty- 
nine, and thirty-eight was the average ; but the length of the stride was more uncertain, 
varying from six feet six inches to seven feet six inches. As we were always urging the 
Camels, who seemed, like ourselves, to know the necessity of pushing on across that fearful 
tract, I took seven feet as the average. These figures give a speed of 2°62 geographical 
miles per hour, or exactly three English miles, which may be considered as the highest 
speed that Camels, lightly loaded, can keep up on a journey. In general, it will not be 
more than two and a half English miles. My dromedary was one of the tallest, and the 
seat of the saddle was six feet six inches above the ground.” 
The speed of the Heirie is seldom more than eight or ten miles per hour, but the 
endurance of the animal is so wonderful, that it is able to keep up this pace for twenty hours 
without stopping. To back a Heirie at full speed is a terrible task, as the peculiar jolting 
trot at which the animal proceeds is so rough and irregular that it seems to dislocate every 
bone, and to shake the digestive organs almost out of their places. It is needful for any 
one who wishes to make a long journey on one of these animals to swathe himself tightly 
in bandages, in order to save himself from the ill effects of long continued jolting, 
The gentle disposition and sweet temper of the Camel is quite as imaginary as its speed, 
for the ‘creature is truly an ill-conditioned and morose beast, ever apt to bite, and so 
combative as to engage in terrible conflicts with its own species as soon as it is relieved of 
its load. Taking advantage of this disposition, the native chiefs will often amuse them- 
selves by combats between fighting Camels, which are trained for the purpose, like the 
fighting tigers and buffaloes of India. 
The true disposition ot the Camel is told in a very spirited manner by the author of 
“ Life among the Pandies.” 
