28 THE CAMEL. 



history presented by the camp of the Ishmaelite 

 sheikh, who is proud of his kindred with the 

 patient Job, and who boasts himself the lineal 

 descendant of Ibrahim el Khaleel, or Abraham, 

 " the friend " of God. 



Independently of the observations of travellers, 

 and the numerous scientific descriptions in books 

 of Natural History, the European literature be- 

 longing to our subject is not extensive. The 

 most comprehensive and satisfactory history of 

 the animal is that presented by Hitter, in a learned 

 and laborious essay on the geographical diffusion 

 of the camel, in the thirteenth volume of his great 

 Description of the Earth. In this essay, Ritter 

 has, with his usual conscientious industry, availed 

 himself of every source of information within his 

 reach; but has seldom cited Eastern authors. 

 Baron Hammer- Purgstall has now, with equal 

 erudition and diligence, treated the subject from 

 a point of view wholly oriental. He records 

 the titles of sixteen Arabic works specially de- 

 voted to the camel, none of which, unfortunately, 

 exist in any European library, and gives a large 

 mass of citations from numerous Persian and 

 other oriental writers in prose and verse, embody- 

 ing a vast amount of information, and amply 

 illustrating the importance of this animal in the 

 social life of all the Asiatic, and more especially 

 the Semitic races. The published portion of 



