88 PUECHASE OF CAMELS FOE MILITARY PURPOSES. 



A CAMEL'S LOAD. 



A strong vigorous animal can easily carry, on a level road, from seven 

 hundred and fifty to eight hundred pounds. In a hilly country the 

 load ought not to exceed five hundred pounds, saddle included. When 

 necessity demands it they can be fully loaded, even in a mountainous 

 region, but in that case there must be spare animals in the troop. 



PACE OP THE CAMEL. 



If not over driven the camel will march loaded from sunrise to 

 sunset ; stretching his neck from side to side of the road;, he gathers the 

 herbage within his reach, and in this manner makes his thirty to forty 

 miles per day. It is well, or rather necessary, to rest him every sixth 

 day. The camel must never be "pushed" but in cases of necessity 

 During the march the pace is relaxed when the ground offers good 

 pasturage, and accelerated when it does not. 



SIGNS OF AGE BY THE TEETH. 



At two years old the camel has no teeth ; at four years, he has two 

 incisors; at five, four teeth, (incisors;) at six, six incisors; at eight, 

 eight incisors. It has also canine teeth and molars. 



FLESH OF THE CAMEL. 



If by accident a camel breaks a leg it must be killed. Its flesh 

 so much resembles beef that it cannot readily be distinguished from it. 

 It is much more tender than beef. 



HUiMP. 



The condition of the camel can always be known by the size of the 

 hump, which is formed from the superabundant nourishment. The 

 re-absorption of this glandular like substance compensates in a manner 

 for the scarcity of food. During a long march the hump is seen gra- 

 dually to diminish. In case of famine it disappears first ; then the fat 

 of the belly ; and lastly the flesh and fullness of the limbs. When 

 the camel has arrived at the last of these stages, it must certainly die. 



DRINK OF THE CAMEL, ITS RESERVOIRS FOR WATER. 



The camel generally drinks once in three days, and the Arabs say 

 the reason it drinks so seldom is that it secretes no bile. The quantity 

 it drinks at onetime varies from thirty to forty pints. It supports hunger 

 and thirst with a patience that would be thought little short of miracu- 

 lous were one ignorant of the construction of its stomach, which is not 

 only capable of containing water in reserve but, according to Cuvier, of 

 producing it. The camel has not only four stomachs like all ruminants, 

 but has also in one of them a species of reservoir, formed by cavities, or 



