THE BACTRIAN CAMEL. 237 



hour, but the endurance of the animal is so wonderful that it is able to 

 keep up this pace for twenty hours without stopping. 



The " hump " of the Camel is a very curious part of its structure, 

 and is of great importance in the eyes of the Arabs, who judge of the 

 condition of their beasts by the size, shape, and firmness of the hump. 

 They say, and truly, that the Camel feeds upon his hump ; for in pro- 

 portion as the animal traverses the sandy wastes of desert lands, and 

 suffers from privation and fatigue, the hump diminishes. At the end 

 of a long and painful journey the hump will often nearly vanish, and it 

 cannot be restored to its pristine form until the animal has undergone 

 a long course of good feeding. When an Arab is about to set forth on 

 a desert journey, he pays great attention to the humps of his Camels, 

 aud watches them with jealous care. 



Independently of its value as a beast of burden, the Camel is most 

 precious to its owners, as it supplies them with food and clothing. Its 

 milk mixed with meal is a favorite dish among the children of the 

 desert, and is sometimes purposely kept until it is sour, in which state 

 it is very grateful to the Arab palate, but especially nauseous to that 

 of an European. The Arabs think that any man is sadly devoid of 

 taste who prefers the sweet new milk to that which has been mellowed 

 by time. A kind of very rancid butter is churned from the cream by 

 a remarkably simple process, consisting of pouring the cream into a 

 goatskin sack and shaking it constantly until the butter is formed. 



The long hair of the Camel is spun into a coarse thread, and is em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of broadcloths and similar articles. At cer- 

 tain times of the year the Camel sheds its hair, in order to replace its 

 old coat by a new one, and the Arabs avail themselves of the looseness 

 with which the hair is at these times adherent to the skin to pluck it 

 away without injuring the animal. 



The height of an ordinary Camel at the shoulder is about six or 

 seven feet, and its color is a light brown, of various depths in different 

 individuals, some specimens being nearly black, and others almost white. 

 The Dromedary is the lighter breed of Camel, and is used chiefly for 

 riding, while the ordinary Camel is employed as a beast of burden. 

 Between the two animals there is about the same difference as between 

 a drayhorse aud a hunter, the Heirie being analogous to the racehorse. 



The Bactrtan Camel is readily to be distinguished from the ordi- 

 nary Camel by the double hump which it bears on its back, and which 

 is precisely analogous in its structure and office to that of the Arabian 

 Camel. 



The general formation of this animal, its lofty neck, raising its head 

 high above the solar radiations from the heated ground, its valve-like 

 nostrils, that close involuntarily if a grain of drifting sand should in- 

 vade their precincts, its wide cushion-like feet, and its powers of absti- 



