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THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



Its form is an exception to a general rule. If one were to 

 take the skeleton of a horse or a cow and cover it with skin, the 

 form of a horse or cow 

 would be plainly dis- 

 cerned, but if the 

 skeleton of a camel 

 were dealt with in 

 like manner it would 

 scarcely be recognisa- 

 ble as a camel, for it 

 would be minus the 

 hnmp. The hump or 

 humps, for there are 

 sometimes two, are 

 masses of fatty tissue 

 which are quite unsup- 

 ported by bone. 



The one - humped 

 variety, which is em- 

 ployed in Arabia, 

 North Africa, Syria, 

 and Persia, is known 

 as the Arabian camel ; 

 and the two-humped 

 variety used in Central 

 Asia is called the Bac- 

 trian camel. 



The Arabian camel 

 seldom exceeds nine 

 feet in height to the top 

 of its hump. It has 

 a small and strongly 

 arched head, small 

 ears, eyes with hori- 

 zontal elongated pu- 

 pils, very mobile nos- 

 trils, which appear simply like two slits in the skin, and an 

 upper lip split down the centre, the two halves of which are 

 susceptible of separate movements. The senses of sight and 

 hearing are very keen, and the sense of smell is also very acute. 

 Its head is carried 

 on a long, arched 

 neck, which pro- 

 ceeds from the 

 strangely humped 

 body. The legs 

 look almost too 

 slim for the body 

 they have to 

 .bear, and on the 

 breast, knees, and 

 insteps there are 

 callosities which 

 have been sup- 

 posed to be pro- 

 duced by the 

 manner of loading 

 the animal. This 

 appears to be a 

 mistake, as the 

 young camel is 

 born with them. 

 The feet are clo- 

 ven, and the two 

 toes on each foot 

 have on the last 

 joint a short and 

 hooked nail. A 

 hard, callous sole 

 covers the bot- 

 toms of the toes, 

 and enables them 

 to walk easily 



on loose sand where most other animals would soon be ex- 

 hausted. Its home is really the desert ; for in richer lands 

 where food is abundant it becomes larger and coarser, and loses 

 its most valuable quality, which has been partly inherited and 

 partly acquired by training, viz., that of being able to live on 



THE SOUTH AMERICAN LLAMA. 



little food, and of passing many days without any water at 

 all. Thus in Tartary and Syria the camels have large frames, 



big heads and necks, 

 coarse legs, and long 

 hair adapted for pro- 

 tecting them against 

 the cold winters of 

 these countries. They 

 may be roughly divided 

 into riding camels, or 

 dromedaries, and bur- 

 den-camels, a division 

 corresponding exactly 

 to our own of riding- 

 horses and cart-horses. 

 The burden - camel 

 will carry a load of 

 400 Ibs., and walk two 

 and a half miles an 

 hour ; while the drome- 

 dary, which is finer, 

 lighter, and quicker in 

 its movements, with 

 no load but its rider, 

 girbeh or water-skin, 

 and a little food, will 

 travel a hundred miles 

 a day for four or five 

 days without injury. 



Kiding a camel is 

 no easy matter to one 

 who is not used to it. 

 It is as difiicult and 

 uncomfortable as rid- 



THE DROMEDARY, OK ARABIAN CAMEL. 



ing a horse is to some 

 one unused to eques- 



trian exercise. People who have tried camel-riding also com- 

 plain of a nausea and headache which its peculiar gait produces. 

 It has been said that this arises from ignorance of the proper 

 way of riding, an art which is soon acquired, as General Colston 



observes that after 

 the rider has once 

 mastered the pro- 

 per method of 

 mounting and dis- 

 mounting, most 

 people who are 

 accustomed to 

 horseback may 

 learn in a single 

 day to ride and 

 manage a camel. 

 The art of easy 

 camel-riding con- 

 sists chiefly in not 

 permitting your 

 camel to walk, 

 except in deep 

 sand or over steep 

 rocky ground 



where you cannot 

 help it. The 

 camel's walk is a 

 most back-break- 

 ing and skin- 

 abrading opera- 

 tion ; but if the 

 rider presses him 

 into a gentle pace, 

 which is the na- 

 tural gait of the 

 dromedary, he 



moves both legs 

 on the same side together. His motion then feels like that 

 of a very easy trotting horse, and he will keep it up at the 

 rate of five miles per hour for whole days together. With 

 every increase in the rapidity of his gait he becomes more 

 uncomfortable to ride. 



