THE GIRAFFE— CAMEL— BUFFALO 197 



of the young camel is inferior to beef or mutton, but it is savory, and 

 not difficult of digestion. The female yields an abundance of milk, 

 almost as nutritious and agreeable to the taste as that of the cow. 

 The hair makes a wool of coarse quality, but long, tough, stout, and 

 easily worked. Out of the skin capital garments, coverings and tents 

 are made; the sinews are manufactured into harness, and applied to 

 various other purposes. Camel-leather is not inferior in suppleness 

 or firmness to that which we use. The dung of the camel, dried in 

 the sun, serves as fuel, not only for cooking food, but even for working 

 metals. Finally, as we have said, as a beast of burden the camel 

 surpasses all other animals in strength, swiftness, and the faculty of 

 enduring fatigue; and, more particularly, in that proverbial abste- 

 miousness which enables it to accomplish a journey of several succes- 

 sive days without taking either food or drink. 



The camel finds it no hardship to be deprived of water for eight, 

 nine or even ten days ; and it is said, on what seems good authority, 

 that it can even prolong its abstinence for twenty-three or twenty- 

 five days. Its daily ration of solid food weighs about a pound or a 

 pound and a quarter. When it has started on its journey fasting, 

 it frequently obtains no Ijetter sustenance on the way than the tops 

 of some dry and dirty branches, with a handful of dry beans for its 

 evening meal. 



This remarkable power of endurance, however, is not its only 

 good quality. If kindly treated, the camel is tractable and patient. Its 

 strength is extraordinary, and its swiftness equals that of the ordinary 

 horse. It can carry a burden of from six hundred to a thousand 

 pounds from thirty to thirty-five miles a day. It must be added that 

 it is not an agreeable animal to ride, owing to its rough, awkward, 

 swinging gait. 



There are two varieties of camels — the Djeniel and the Mahari. 

 The former is the beast of burden; the latter is reserved for traveling 

 and the chase. 



The Buffalo. — Following the order of the ruminants, we next 

 reach the bufifalo. It is only necessary to look once at this ugly brute 

 to realize his dangerous possibilities. Of all the African animals, not 

 even excepting the uncertain tempered rhino, the buffalo must be 



