NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 115 



at a Turkish wedding in a village near Smyrna, and 

 again at a festival at Magnesia. But he once, in the 

 neighbourhood of Smyrna, saw a fight of a more serious 

 character. Two huge camels broke away from the 

 string, and set-to in spite of their drivers. They bit each 

 other like furies, and the devidjis,* to whom in general 

 these animals are most obedient and even affectionate, 

 had the greatest difficulty in separating the enraged 

 rivals. 



On the Roman arena the camel was seen comparatively 

 late, either as a mere spectacle or in a ruck with other 

 beasts, and there is some foundation for the belief that 

 camels appeared in the circus drawing chariots four-in- 

 hand ; not as we drive, but all four in the same line, 

 yoked together abreast. 



Ptolemy evinced his respect for the human race by 

 showing together two novelties in the Egyptian theatre, 

 namely, a black camel and a parti-coloured man, the 

 latter being half white and half black. 



Without stopping to inquire about the dimensions of 

 the table of that mighty monarch, who, according to 

 some retailers of wonders, had a whole camel served to 

 his robust guests, or whether the said thaumaturgists had 

 not misread a passage which set forth how the enter- 

 tainer, in his royal magnificence, had sent away the 

 guests, after a feast worthy of Lucullus himself, enriched 

 with golden crowns, massive silver vases, slaves, and a 

 camel each, we may be content with knowing that the 

 milk and flesh of the animal are said to be as welcome 

 to the Arab as those of the rein-deer to the La23lander ; 

 and as there is too frequently but one step between the 

 pleasures of the table and the prescription of the phy- 

 sician, let us see what the ancient pharmacopoeia owed 

 to the camel : — 



* Camel-drivers. 



