CAMEL AND DROMEDARY. 189 



till he has attained the age of four years. The camel 

 commonly lives forty or fifty years. 



The camel is not only of greater value than the elephant, 

 but perhaps not of less than the horse, the ass, and the ox, 

 all united together/ He alone carries as much as two 

 mules. He not only eats less, but likewise feeds on herbs 

 as coarse as the ass. The female furnishes milk a longer 

 time than the cow. The flesh of the young camels is good 

 and wholesome, like veal ; their hair is finer, and more 

 sought after than the finest wool ; there is not a part of 

 them, even to their excrements, from which some profit is 

 not drawn ; for sal ammoniac is made from their urine. 

 Their dung, when dried and powdered, serves them for 

 litter, as it does for horses, with whom they often travel 

 into countries where neither straw nor hay is known. In 

 fine, a kind of turf is also made of this dung, which burns 

 freely, and gives a flame as clear, and almost as lively as 

 that of dry wood. Even this is another great use, espe- 

 cially in deserts, where not a tree is to be seen, and where, 

 from the deficiency of combustible matters, fire is almost 

 as scarce as water. 



At particular seasons of the year, camel fights are com- 

 mon at Smyrna, and at Aleppo. Such exhibitions are the 

 disgrace of the vulgar (be they the high or the low vulgar,) 

 of all countries ; and the lion fights of the savage Romans, 

 the bull fights of Spain, the bull and badger baitings and 

 cock fights of England, and the camel fights of Asia Minor, 

 are equally indications of a barbarian spirit, which can 

 only be eradicated by knowledge and true religion. Of 

 these, however, the camel fights appear the least ob- 

 jectionable. 



Mr. Mac Farlane thus describes to us this curious scene : 

 " One of the favorite holiday amusements of the Turks of 

 Asia Minor, is furnished by the camel combats. An inclo- 

 sure is made, and two camels, previously muzzled, so that 

 not hurt each other much, are driven in, and incited 



