THE CAMELS 995 



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Christian era, and partly on the circumstance that no representations of camels oc- 

 cur in the ancient Egyptian frescoes. Whatever may be the value of the statements 

 referred to, there can be no question but that the absence of pictures of these ani- 

 mals from the frescoes of Egypt does not support the conclusion that they were in- 

 troduced at a comparatively-late date into that country. For there is evidence 

 furnished by a papyrus of the fourteenth century, B. C., that camels were at that 

 early period well known in Egypt. Possibly there were some superstitious or other 

 reasons which led to the exclusion of their portraits from the frescoes. 



A certain amount of light is thrown on the question by the occurrence of fos- 

 silized remains of extinct camels in the Pliocene rocks of the Siwalik hills, at the 

 foot of the Himalayas, and also in beds belonging to the succeeding Pleistocene 

 period in Algeria. And knowing, as we do, that so many of the African genera of 

 Mammals have taken origin in India, from whence they have migrated to their pres- 

 ent home, it would seem highly likely that the same may have been the case with 

 the camels. The Arabian camel, or its immediate parent, may, therefore, have 

 sprung from an Indian ancestor, and thence made its way through Arabia and Syria 

 into Northern Africa. 



The Arabian camel is essentially an animal fitted to exist only in dry or desert 

 districts, and consequently all attempts to introduce it into the moist and wooded 

 regions of Southern India and Equatorial Africa have signally failed. Where, how- 

 ever, the climate is at all favorable, its introduction into new regions has generally 

 been attended with success. Camels are reported to have been introduced into Italy 

 in the year 1622, and again in 1738. On a flat plain near Pisa, the number in 1810 was 

 forty, and in 1840 forty-one, while later it had increased to upward of two hundred. 

 Their attempted introduction into Sicily, as beasts of burden in the sulphur mines, 

 was, on account of the climate, a failure; but in Spain they appear to have thriven. 



In the year 1856 a drove of seventy-five camels was procured from Smyrna by 

 the United States Government, and distributed over Texas, Arizona, and New Mex- 

 ico. During the war of secession, the whole of these animals fell into the hands of 

 the Confederates, and were used for carrying the mails, some of them making jour- 

 neys of upward of one hundred and twenty miles in a day. At the conclusion of the 

 war the remnant of these once more came under the Government of the United 

 States, and others were purchased in 1866. These were distributed through Ari- 

 zona and Texas for breeding purposes; but many died, and the experiment proved 

 unsatisfactory. Consequently, those that survived were turned adrift to shift for 

 themselves; and it appears that some still remain in the wilder districts of Cali- 

 fornia and Arizona, and wander over a considerable area in the course of the year. 

 In Australia, the introduction of camels has been a greater success, and they have 

 proved invaluable in the expeditions which have been undertaken to explore the des- 

 erts of the interior. 



The food of the camel in its natural state probably consisted entirely 



of branches and leaves of trees, and although grain is now largely 



given, a certain amount of green food is absolutely essential to the animal's health. 



No matter how thorny the boughs may be, they are quite acceptable to the camel; 



and it is perfectly marvelous how the animals manage to eat such food without 



