CAMEL 



1079 



CAMEO 



its chest the camel has pads which prevent the 

 sand from wearing away its flesh. In a dust 

 storm it lies down, stretches its long neck on 

 the ground and closes its nostrils. Because 

 of its powerful teeth the camel is able to eat 

 shrubs and hard, dry vegetables. Its sense of 

 smell and its vision are very acute, and it can 

 sight water at a great distance. The average 

 length of life of the camel is forty years. 



Its Usefulness to Man. Camels and their 

 riders cross the deserts in caravans, which are 

 sometimes miles in length. The camel is not 

 fully grown until its sixteenth or seventeenth 

 year, but it is trained from its fourth year to 

 kneel, to rise and to carry burdens. A- mature 

 camel will carry a load of a thousand pounds. 

 An ordinary camel will carry its pack twenty- 

 five miles a day for three days without water; 

 some will go without water fifty miles a day 

 for five days. A specially-trained camel will 

 carry a rider a hundred miles in a day. Like a 

 pacing horse, it lifts the legs on the same side 

 at the same time. 



To the people who live in desert countries 

 the camel is valuable in many other ways than 

 as a beast of burden. The two-humped camel 

 grows a very long winter coat, from the hair 

 of which the natives weave cloth. The Arabs 

 also use camel's hair cloth, especially for tent 

 coverings, and we read in the Bible that John 

 the Baptist "had his raiment of camel's hair." 

 The meat of the young animal resembles veal, 

 and is a favorite with the Arabs. A very dur- 

 able leather is made from the hide of the 

 camel. Artists in America and Europe use 

 fine camel's hair for their brushes. 



The camel is not like the horse, an animal 

 which learns to love and to serve its master 

 intelligently. It is easily governed, but this is 

 because of its dullness, not because of a gentle 

 nature. It is always one of the most interest- 

 ing animals in the zoological garden or circus 

 menagerie. In captivity it. is fed on alfalfa, 

 hay, carrots and bread, but very little grain. 



Origin. Some authorities believe the first 

 camels or camel-like animals lived in North 

 America, thousands of years ago, when a large 

 part of the continent was desert. When the 

 climate became more humid and forests grew, 

 these animals migrated. Some crossed Siberia 

 into Asia, others went to South America, where 

 their descendants survive as llamas (which 

 see). The llama lives in the mountains, where 

 it has plenty of water, but it still has a stomach 

 like the camel's, capable of storing water. At 

 the time of the rush to California of the gold- 



seeking "forty-niners" camels were brought to 

 America for use in crossing the desert, but this 

 experiment was not a success. V.L.K. 



CAMELLIA, kamel'ia, a beautiful, waxy, 

 rose-like flower which is borne on a plant 

 closely related to those which yield tea. ' The 

 leaves of this plant are dark green, shining 

 and laurel-like, and serve to set off most effec- 

 tively the large blos- 

 soms. The common 

 camellia, now much 

 grown in green- 

 houses in America, 

 is native to Japan, 

 but there the flowers 

 are single and usually 

 red, while under cul- 

 tivation they have ' 

 doubled and have 

 developed various 

 colors, white, pink, 

 reddish and yellow. 

 For best results, ca- CAMELLIA 



mellias should be planted in a loose, black 

 mold in a cool greenhouse, and given plenty of 

 water. Although they will grow from seeds, 

 the finest specimens are produced by grafting. 

 Dumas' famous novel, translated into English 

 . as Camille, was called in the original The Lady 

 of the Camellias. One species of this flower is 

 known as the japonica. 



CAMEO, kam' e o, the general name for all 

 precious stones which are engraved with raised 



CAMEOS 



(a) Sardonyx shell with portrait cut in bas- 



relief. 



(b) Cameo brooch. 



(c) Cameo ring. 



figures, in contrast to intaglios, which have the 

 figures sunk below the surface. In a special 

 sense the term cameo is applied to a gem 



