APPENDIX. 217 



the seed-pods and seeds of the mezquit would doubtless 

 prove a very acceptable and nutritious diet to the camel. 

 The mezquit appears closely to resemble the sont or 

 gum arabic tree of the Arabian and Libyan deserts. 

 I have often tempted the camel with the seed-vessels of 

 this acacia, and found, that he would turn from beans, 

 otherwise a favorite food, to devour them. The mez- 

 quit yields a large crop of seeds, and these do not fall 

 with the leaf, but the pod remains attached to the 

 branches, still unopened until after the appearance of 

 the new leaf. There is consequently no period of the 

 year, when it does not furnish either foliage or seeds, 

 and as it is found almost everywhere upon the plains, 

 there is reason to believe that independently of other 

 vegetables indigenous to the American desert, the mez- 

 quit alone would provide abundantly for the support of 

 the camel, over very wide tracts which yield little or no 

 food for the horse or the ox. 



