276 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book VIII 



whelps ; this she snatches up with her teeth, and more swift, 

 even, under the weight, returns to her lair, and then again 

 sets out in pursuit ; and this she continues to do, until the 

 hunter has reached his vessel, while the animal vainly vents 

 her fury upon the shore. 



CHAP. 26. CAMELS! 31 THE DIFFERENT KINDS. 



Camels are found feeding in herds in the East. Of these 

 there are two different kinds, those of Bactria and those of 

 Arabia ; 32 the former kind having two humps on the back, and 

 the latter only one ; they have also another hump under the 

 breast, by means of which they support themselves when re- 

 clining. Both of these species, like the ox, have no teeth in 

 the upper jaw. 33 They are all of them employed as beasts of 

 burthen, in carrying loads on the back, and they answer the 

 purpose of cavalry in battle. Their speed is the same with 

 that of the horse, but their power of holding out in this respect 

 is proportioned in each to its natural strength : it will never 

 go beyond its accustomed distance, nor will it receive more 

 than its usual load. The camel has a natural antipathy to the 

 horse. 34 It can endure thirst for four days even, and when it 

 has the opportunity of obtaining water, it drinks, as it were, 

 both for past and future thirst, having first taken care to 

 trouble the water by trampling in it ; without doing which, 

 it would find no pleasure in drinking. They live fifty years, 

 some indeed as much as one hundred. These animals, too, are 

 liable to fits of frenzy. 35 A peculiar mode of castrating them, 

 and the females, even, when required for the purposes of war, 

 has been discovered ; it renders them more courageous, by the 

 destruction of all sexual feelings. 



31 Cuvier remarks, that the account given of the two kinds of camels, 

 and his description generally, is correct, with the exception of their an- 

 tipathy to the horse. The caravans, he says, present a constant mixture 

 of the two animals, and even, in Arabia, the young foals are occasionally 

 suckled by the female camel. B. 



36 "We have a similar statement in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 1. 

 Indeed, the account here given generally, is taken from him. B. 



33 See B. xi. c. 62. 



34 Mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 17, and by JElian, 

 Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 7 ; but, as stated above, it is incorrect. B. 



35 At the time of rutting, according to Solinus. 



