LETTER XXI. 



escape their vengeance, and that they will retain the 

 remembrance of an injury till an opportunity offers 

 for gratifying their revenge. Eager, htwever, t ex- 

 press their resentment, they no longer retain any ran- 

 cour, when once they are satisfied ; and it is even 

 sufficient for them to believe they .have satisfied their 

 vengeance. When an Arab, therefore, has excUed 

 the rage of a camel, he throws down his garments in 

 some place near which the animal is to pass, and dis- 

 poses them in such a manner that they appear to 

 cover a man sleeping under them. The animal re- 

 cognizes -the cloaths, seizes them in his teeth, shakes 

 them with violence, and tramples on them in a rage. 

 When his anger is appeased, he leaves them, and then 

 the owner of the garments may make his appearance 

 without any fear, load, and guide him as he pleases. 

 " I have sometimes seen them," says M. Sonini, 

 " weary of the impatience of their riders, stop short, 

 turn round their long necks to bite them, and utter 

 cries of rage. In these circumstances, the man must 

 be careful not to alight, as he would infallibly be torn 

 to pieces : he must also refrain from striking his beast, 

 as that would but increase his fury. Nothing can be 

 done, but to have patience, and appease the &r.imal 

 by patting him with the hand, (whicii fYcqueniiy re- 

 quires some time) when he will resume his way and 

 his pace of himself." Like the elephant, camels have 

 their periodical fits of rage, and during these they 

 sometimes have been known to take up a man in their 

 teeth, throw him on the ground, and trample him 

 under their feet. 



If we view wi r h a philosophic eye the singular con- 

 formation of the camel, scepticism itself can scarcely 

 cali iu question the evident marks which it bears of a 

 regular design, in an organization so wonderfully 

 adapted to the purposes for which it is destined, and 

 to the place which it is appointed to ht-Ui in the sys- 

 tem of animated nature. Its feet are (,-eculiariy 'adapt- 

 ed to the soil on which he is to tread. They are lia- 

 ble to be injured by travelling on stones, and he can- 

 not well support himself on moist an;l slippery clays ; 



