118 LETTER XXI. 



THE DROMEDARY 



Is not a different species, but only a distinct breed 

 of the camel. They herd and propagate together. 

 and the production, which is also prolific, is improved 

 "by various intermixtures, and generally esteemed of 

 greater value than either of the original breeds. The 

 dromedary is inferior in size and strength, but swifter 

 in pace, and is beyond comparison more numerous, 

 and more extensively diffused, than the camel ; the 

 latter being seldom found, except in Arabia and some 

 parts of the Levant, while the former extends over 

 very spacious regions, and is common in Egypt, and 

 all the northen parts of Africa, as well as in Persia 

 and some parts of Tartary and India. But the pecu- 

 liarly distinguishing characteristic of the two races 

 is, that the dromedary has two hunches on the back, 

 while the camel has only one : the former is also 

 much swifter than the latter, and will carry a man an 

 hundred miles a day, for nine or ten days together, 

 through uninhabitable deserts of parched sand., re- 

 quiring neither whip nor spur to quicken its .pa<:e. 

 Both the dromedary and the camel are extremely 

 sensible of good treatment, and in pursuing their fa- 

 tiguing journies are much enlivened by singing, or 

 the sound of the pipe, Not many of the females ar% 

 put to labour, but are generally kept for the purpose 

 of breeding. They usually produce one at a birth ; 

 the time of gestation, of both the camel and the dro- 

 medary, is twelve months : the period ot' its attain- 

 ment to full strength and perfection is the age of six 

 years, and the duration of its life is reckoned to be 

 from forty to fifty years. 



As the dromedary is only a variety of the camel, 

 the same reflections on the gracious dispensation of 

 an AH-\vise Providence must again occur, in contorn-- 

 plating the varied bounties of the Creator, in forming 

 two different tribes of this excellent quadruped, and 

 assigning to one a more confined, and to the other a 

 more extensive sphere of utility. 



I shall in the next place, call your attention to a 

 quadruped, which, from the similarity of its qualities 



