DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 27 



it obtains its nourishment during its enforced 

 fasts while on its marches across the burning 

 plains. Many people believe that the camel's 

 backbone is curved upward in the middle. This 

 is not true. The backbone of the camel is straight, 

 like that of the cow or horse. The "hump" is 

 merely a store of fat which it carries on its back 

 to give it sustenance when it can't get food to eat. 

 This "hump" shrivels or enlarges according to 



"THE CAMEL'S BACKBONE 

 IS STRAIGHT" 



the scarcity or plentifulness of food. There are 

 certain kinds of sheep that store their extra fat 

 in their tails. 



The camel has great endurance. It can amble 

 over the yielding sands with 200 pounds on its 

 back at a rate of 5 or 6 miles an hour for 15 hours 

 out of the 24. It can keep this up for a week 

 without water, and without anything to eat but 

 thorns and cactuses and a ball of barley meal once 

 a day. The camel can get along without eating 

 and drinking because it carries its food on its 

 back and its drink in one of its stomachs. The 

 camel is not pretty, but very wonderful. 



The camel is like the donkey, it never changes. 

 It has been used from time immemorial, but is 

 still only partially domesticated. It has the pe- 



