RUMINANTIA. 



181 



for the support of their burden ; one on the breast, two on each 

 of the fore legs and one on each of the hind ones. The toes do 

 not present the true cloven figure, but are united underneath by 

 an elastic pad, or cushion, connecting them together, but leaving 

 the points free and separable, so that a larger surface thus comes 

 into contact with the sandy earth. (Plate VI. fig. 2.) This, in 

 connection with the elastic nature of the sole or cushion, enables 

 the animal to tread with equal comfort over the yielding desert 

 and the hard and arid plain. 



The Camel has great difficulty in moving upon a soft and 

 muddy soil, as it slips at every step. So great is its aversion to 

 treading upon such soil, it is said, that its drivers "have been 

 obliged to spread their tent coverings over the obnoxious ground 

 in order to conceal its appearance and induce the animal to pro- 

 ceed." The step of the Camel is noiseless. " What always 

 struck me," says the writer of a work on Constantinople, " as 

 something extremely romantic and mysterious, was the noiseless 

 tread of the Camel, from the spongy nature of his foot. What- 

 ever be the nature of the ground, sand, or rock, or turf, or paved 

 stones, you hear no foot-fall ; you see an immense animal ap- 

 proaching you stilly, as a cloud floating in the air ; and unless 

 he wear a bell, your sense of hearing, acute as it may be, will 

 give you no intimation of his presence.^,' 



The sense of hearing, in this animal, is very delicate. It 

 seems greatly pleased with the sound of bells, and with the 

 cheering song of its driver; its sense of smell, also, is remarka- 

 bly acute. When the traveler across the desert is suffering 

 from thirst, the camel, snuffing the gale, first indicates, by its 

 dumb show, that the water is near of which the exhausted pil- 

 grim must soon "drink or die." 



The third stomach, or laminated omasus, of the Ruminants, is 

 wanting in the Camels. The paunch or pannel is provided with 

 a large number of cells, in order that water may be retained to 

 serve the wants of the animal in case of extreme necessity. A 

 longitudinal ridge of muscular fibres divides the paunch into two 

 portions, the left containing a row of cells, which, (in the Ara- 

 bian Camel,) holds four or five quarts of water ; the right has a 

 smaller series, holding about a quart. (See Plate VI. fig. 14.) 



When the cells are filled, the fluid is kept from mixing with 

 the food by the contraction of the orifice of each cell, and it can j 

 be forced out at pleasure by the action of a muscular expansion 

 covering the bottom of the cellular apparatus. The deep cells 

 of the reticulum are arranged in twelve rows, and are formed by 

 muscular bands intersecting each other transversely. This 



