CHAPTER VII 



SIZE, COLOR, DISEASES, TEMPER, AND LONGEVITY. 



THE height and bulk of the camel are very 

 different in different breeds. The average height 

 of the Arabian camels I have measured was 

 nineteen hands, or six feet four inches to the top 

 of the hump, the head being an inch or two 

 higher. 1 The tallest I have used measured seven 

 feet, and seven feet three inches respectively. 

 The very powerful Turcoman camel is said to be 

 somewhat lower than the Arabian ; but the indi- 

 viduals of this breed, composing two large cara- 

 vans, I saw at Broussa and near Ghemlih, were 

 taller than the Arabian camels I have seen, by 

 from four to six inches. The height of the Bac- 

 trian is stated at from six to eight and a half 



1 Hammer-Purgstall, in commenting on a passage of an 

 Arabic poem, which he translates, " She lowered her head to 

 the level of the saddle," observes that the head of the camel 

 is much higher than his saddle. This may be true of the 

 saddle of the mahari, which is placed on the withers, but not 

 of the pack-saddle, or the common dromedary saddle used in 

 Arabia. 



