206 PURCHASE OF CAMELS EOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 



chandise ; this operation is performed at any age. The dromedary is 

 so awkward in copulating that his driver has to direct him in the act.* 

 The flesh of the dromedary is served at the table of royalty, not as 

 a rarity, but as a meat privileged by the Prophet.f The dromedary 

 travels over ground of every description ; they are very sure-footed, 

 even when ascending slopes; they choose their steps with admirable 

 instinct, and often when the ascent is very steep, they kneel and walk 

 upon the callosities of the fore legs, trying thus to reach the summit 

 by maintaining a horizontal position. Going down hill fatigues 

 them, particularly in stony soils, and the rider has often, in such 

 cases, to dismount ; but in sandy soils they have a great superiority 



over all other animals.! 



They kneel down and get up easily, but this movement should not 

 be repeated too often, especially after a long journey, and if they are 

 loaded, for they will finally refuse to move and will not stir until they 

 have rested » In the spring they shed their hair, which is pulled off 

 in great handfuls, and is used for weaving carpets and other finer 

 fabrics. In the north of Persia the young dromedaries are weaned 

 when a year old, which is the cause of their being stronger than those 

 of the south, where the milk is used by man. As soon as weaned 

 they are turned out into the fields to feed. They seem to prefer the 

 thistle and wormwood, (aszcmtin,) and find subsistence where the eye 

 of man can only detect an arid soil. They resist hunger, and espe- 

 cially thirst, for several days. In winter they rarely drink, the snow 

 which they eat sufficing them. When they have to work they must 

 be fed either with bran or barley, and straw. They are fed in the 

 evening, and a single feed lasts them for twenty-four hours. An hour 

 after ieeding they begin to ruminate, to finish only the next day at 

 nearl}^ the same hour. They eat ordinarily a meni-tahrisi (about six 

 pounds) of barley, and about nine pounds of straw a day. Along the 

 Gulf of Persia they are fed with dry fish§ or date nuts. They are 

 driven by a cord fastened over the head, and are controlled in their 

 movements by different whistles or gutteral sounds, sometimes by the 

 whip. II Most dromedaries can make forced marches of fifteen /arsew^s 



* This statement, in spite of its absurdity, is strictly true, and the Persians have assured 

 me that it is always necessary. 



t My Musselman cook has often passed it off upon me for beef, in order to get the advanced 

 price for it. 



I Rains are rare and last only a few hours, the earth absorbs them and immediately becomes 

 dry. When the snow melts, however, and mud is formed, the dromedary then travels with 

 great difficulty, particularly in going down hills. 



The grand vizier, Hadji-Wirza-Agassi, gained great reputation by inventing a shoe for 

 the dromedary. It was made of very thick leather, to which was attached a large horse-shoe, 

 and was fastened on just above the hoof. This enabled the animal to travel over rocks. It 

 appears, however, that shoeing the dromedary was practiced long since by the Kalmucks 

 and Tartars inhabiting the Russian-Chinese frontier. We find in Corneille Le Brun (Vol. 1, 

 p. 121) that the camels that traverse Lake Baikal, on the route to China, are shod with boots 

 ironed in such a manner as to enable them to walk on the ice. 



§ Horses are in like manner fed with fish. 



II They are so sensitive in the legs that the slightest blow makes them kneel; in consequence 

 the drivers wlio have charge of large droves of dromedaries, employ the following means for 

 stopping those that will not halt when ordered : whirling their tchomach, (a kind of stick 

 with which they are armed,) they throw it with great skill at the legs of the refractory, which 

 immediately stops them. 



