HISTORY OF ANIMALS 



BOOK VII. CONTINUED. 

 CHAPTER VL 



THE CAMEL AND THE DROMEDARY.* 



THESE names do not make two distinct kinds, but are only given to a 

 variety of the same animal, which has, however, subsisted time imme- 

 morial. The principal, and perhaps the only sensible difference, by 

 which those two races are distinguished, consists in this, that the camel 

 has two bunches upon his back, whereas the dromedary has but one ; 

 the latter, also, is neither so large, nor so strong, as the camel. These 

 two races, however, produce with each other, and the mixed breed 

 formed between them is considered the best, the most patient, and the 

 most indefatigable of all the kind. 



Of the two varieties, the dromedary is by far the most numejrous, 

 the camel being scarcely ever found, except in Turkey, and the countries 

 of the Levant ; while the other is found spread over all the deserts of 

 Arabia, the southern parts of Africa, Persia, Tartary, and a great part 

 of the eastern Indies. Thus the one inhabits an immense tract of 

 country, the other, in comparison, is confined to a province ; the one 

 inhabits the sultry countries of the Torrid Zone, the other delights 

 in a warm, but not a burning climate ; neither, however, can subsist 

 or propagate in the variable climates towards the north ; they seem 

 formed for those countries where shrubs are plenty, and water scarce ; 

 where they can travel along the sandy desert without being impeded 

 by rivers, and find food at expected distances ; such a country is Ara- 

 bia, and this, of all others, seems the most adapted to the support and 

 production of this animal. 



* These quadrupeds have six front teeth in the lower jaw, which are rather thin and 

 broad ; the canine teeth are a little remote from the rest ; in the upper jaw there am 

 three, in the lower two : the upper lip dirided ; and there are no horns. 



