Camels.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



119 



forced march of three days and two nights, through a 

 region where there is no water, the desert of El Tyh, 

 which nearly extends from the head of one gulf of 

 the Red Sea to the other — that is, from Suez to 

 Akaba. The Hadj route is circuitous. It is here 

 that the privations both of men and quadrupeds 

 commence. The splendid trappings of the camels, 

 their velvets and their bells, have lost their attrac- 

 tion ; but their power of endurance becomes the 

 safety of the pilgrims — while the richly-caparisoned 

 horse, impatient of thirst, and more easily subdued 

 by fatigue, is more frequently a burthen to the 

 caravan than an advantage. The route of the 

 Egyptian caravan, alter it passes the Akaba, lies 

 by the shores of the Red Sea for nearly six hundred 

 rniles; and, therefore, it cannot properly be said 

 at any time after the first ten days' march to be 

 upon the desert, as the Syrian caravan is for thirty 

 days. But its difficulties are more numerous ; and 

 it has to pass regions quite as arid and inhospitable. 

 Every part of Arabia is covered with sandy plains ; 

 and when the mountain steeps are crossed, the long 

 extended valleys rarely offer water. The Arabic 

 language is rich in words expressing every variety 

 of desert, differing from each other by very slight 

 shades of meaning : thus, they have terms descrip- 

 tive of a plain— a plain in the mountain — a plain 

 covered with herbs — a naked sandy desert—a stony 

 desert — a desert with little spots of pasturage — a 

 desert without water.* Although the caravan route 

 from Cairo to Mecca presents, with the exception of 

 the desert El Tyh, none of those enormous wastes, 

 like the great Southern Desert of Arabia, " where 

 the Arabs have only the sun and the stars to direct 

 their way ;" nor is, like the Libyan desert, " a sea 

 without waters, an earth without solidity, disdaining 

 to hold a foot-print as a testimony of subjection, '~f 

 there are many tracts, as well as the desert from 

 Suez to Akaba, in the forty days' journey, which 

 offer to the pilgrim abundance of fatigue and suffer- 

 ing. If water fail, as it sometimes does, even at 

 the wells at particularly dry seasons — if the water- 

 skins evaporate more quickly than they ordinarily 

 do — the camel's power of endurance is severely tried 

 — for his wants are the last attended to. Happy 

 are the pilgrims if the rain of the mountains have 

 filled the banks of some little river. Even the 

 much-enduring camels, at the sighl of water, after 

 many days' abstinence, break the halters by which 

 they are led, and in rushing or stumbling down the 

 banks throw off their loads, and occasion infinite 

 disorder.'j; Mr. Buckingham has however described 

 a scene in which the patience of the camel is con- 

 trasted in a remarkable way with the eagerness of the 

 horse : — " It was near midnight when we reached a 

 marshy ground, in which a clear stream was flowing 

 along, through beds of tall and thick rushes, but so 

 hidden by these, that the noise of its flow was heard 

 long before the stream itself could be seen. From the 

 length of the march, and the exhausting heat of the 

 atmosphere, even at night, the horses were exceed- 

 ingly thirsty : their impatient restlessness, evinced, 

 by their tramping, neighing, and eager impatience 

 to rush all to one particular point, gave us indeed, 

 the first indications of our approach to water, which 

 was perceptible to their stronger scent long before 

 it was even heard by us. On reaching the brink of 

 this stream, for which purpose we had been forcibly 

 turned aside, by the ungovernable fury of the ani- 

 mals, to the southward of our route, the banks were 

 found to be so high above the surface of the water, 

 that the horses could not reach it to drink. Some, 

 more impatient than the rest, plunged themselves 

 and their riders at once into the current ; and, after 

 being led swimming to a less elevated part of the 

 Dank over which they could mount, were extricated 

 with considerable difficulty ; while two of the horses 

 of the caravan, who were more heavily laden than 

 the others, by carrying the baggage as well as the 

 persons of their riders, were drowned. The stream 

 was narrow, but deep, and had a soft muddy bottom, 

 in which another of the horses became so fastly 

 stuck, that he was suffocated in a few minutes. 

 The camels marched patiently along the edge of 

 the bank, as well as those persons of the caravan 

 who were provided with skins and other vessels con- 

 taining small supplies of water; but the horses 

 could not, by all the power of their riders, be kept 

 from the stream, any more than the crowd of thirsty 

 pilgrims, who, many of them having no small ves- 

 sels to dip up the water from the brook, followed 

 the example of the impatient horses, and plunged 

 at once into the current.., . This scene — which, 

 amidst the obscurity of the night, the cries of the 

 animals, the shouting and quarrelling of the people, 

 and the indistinct, and perhaps exaggerated, appre- 

 hensions of danger, from a totally unexpected 

 cause, had assumed an almost awful character — 

 lasted for upwards of an hour." ^ 



• Seo Hamboldt'i Voyige,tom.vi. Note to p. 7. 

 + Furchaii. 



J BiiEckharfU'!! Nubia, p. 3S8, 

 \ Kuckinifham'i Masopotamia. 



Fig. 512 represents this scene with considerable 

 spirit. 



The camel is not only valuable as a beast of bur- 

 den, its milk is in requisition : it is the milk used 

 for ordinary purposes by the Arabs, that of goats 

 and sheep being generally made into butter. The 

 Arab feeds his colt with it, and even gives it to his 

 mare. Flour made into a paste with sour camel's 

 milk is a common dish among the Bedouins ; it is 

 called ayesh. Rice or flour boiled with sweet 

 camel's milk is another : it is called behatta. 



Though the flesh of the camel was among the 

 meats prohibited to the Jews, it is not only eaten, 

 but relished by the Arabs : it is not often, however, 

 that the Arab kills a camel in order to enjoy this 

 luxury. When this does happen, the flesh is cut 

 into large pieces : some part is boiled, and its 

 grease mixed with borgoul (wheat boiled with some 

 leaven and then dried in the sun) ; part is roasted, 

 and, like the boiled, put upon the dish of borgoul 

 The whole tribe then partakes of the delicious feast 

 The grease of the camel is kept in goat-skins, and 

 used like butter. The woolly hair of the camel, 

 which towards the close of spring is loose and easily 

 pulled away from the skin, is applied to various pur- 

 poses and woven into coarse cloth used as tent- 

 coverings. Even the dung of the camel is not 

 neglected : it forms the chief material for fuel in 

 Egypt, Arabia, and Persia, and from the smoke, or 

 rather soot, of this fuel is obtained sal-ammoniac, 

 which was formerly procured almost exclusively 

 from this source, and for the manufacturing of which 

 there were, in 1720, laboratories at Cairo and other 

 towns in Egypt. 



At San Rossora the Tuscan government esta- 

 blished a stud of camels for the purpose of carrying 

 faggots, hay, straw, &c. from the domain of San 

 Rossora to Pisa and other towns. It would appear 

 that this establishment was founded about the mid- 

 dle of the seventeenth century, in the reign of the 

 Grand-Duke Ferdinand de' Medici II. We have 

 not been able to ascertain to what extent the stud 

 is now kept up, but in 1789 it consisted of one 

 hundred and ninety-six camels, male and female, 

 and in 1810 of about one hundred and seventy. 



The Moors introduced the camel into Spain, 

 and after the conquest of Granada, and the expul- 

 sion of the Moorish inhabitants, many of these ani- 

 mals remained in the southern districts ; but the 

 race was not kept up, and therefore Spain, where 

 in various localities the camel would be peculiarly 

 serviceable, no longer possesses this useful animal. 

 We learn that camels have been lately imported 

 into South America from the Canary Islands with a 

 probability of success. 



The camel has bred in the gardens of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society. 



The colour of this animal, as of most domestic 

 animals, is subject to variety. The brown colour 

 appears not to be esteemed ; reddish or light grey 

 is preferred. Occasionally black camels are seen. 

 In Egypt the average price of one of these beasts of 

 burden is from thirty to fifty dollars : but the swift 

 Oman camels, which are much valued, sell at a 

 higher rate, and Burckhardt mentions an instance 

 in which 300 dollars were given for one. When 

 travelhng in Nubia Burckhardt saw the camel 

 almost in a wild state, whole herds being left to 

 pasture unattended by men : they were kept for 

 the sake of their flesh and milk, few being employed 

 as beasts of burden ; they even appeared fright- 

 ened at the approach of men and loaded camels — 

 a circumstance this traveller had never before 

 witnessed. The Nubian camels are generally 

 white. 



Many of our pictorial specimens of the camel 

 are illustrative of scenes in its domestic life, and 

 consequently of the manners of the people whose 

 servant it is, and with whose history its own is in- 

 timately connected. Fig. 514 — camels tethered, and 

 unloaded of their luggage. Fig. 516— Loaded camels 

 on a Journey. Fig. 51.'^— the Swift Camel, or Dro- 

 medary ; Fig. 515— the same. Fig. 519— a Caravan 

 traversing the Desert. Fig. 522— a Camel at the sight 

 of which a horse is startled — the latter animal, unless 

 used to the camel, evinces fear at its appearance. 

 Figs. 523, 52,5— Loading the Camel. Fig. 526— an 

 Oriental Migration. Fig. 530— Halt of Camels. Figs. 

 529, 531 — Mounted Camels. Fig. 535, — Camel car- 

 rying a Bride. " One of the greatest solemnities of 

 these simple Arab tribes is that of conducting a 

 bride to her husband. The lady is placed in a frame 

 on the back of a camel, and is housed over with 

 carpets, shawls, and ostrich feathers. The camel is 

 led by a relation of the bride, preceded by dancing 

 people, music, mounted and dismounted Arabs, who 

 shout and fire their guns, running backward and 

 forward in the procession. Captain Lyon made a 

 drawing of the bridal camel and his trappings." Fig. 

 536 — the Swift Camel, mounted. " The wandering 

 Arab and his Maherry have an extraordinary appear- 

 ance, which Captain Lyon has described. The sad- 

 dle is placed on the withers, and confined by a band 



under the belly. It is very small and difiicult to 

 set, which is done by balancing the feet against the 

 neck of the animal and holding a tight rein to steady 

 the hand." Fig. 537— a Malefactor after punish- 

 ment, paraded on a camel ; his crime and sentence 

 being proclaimed as he is led along. Fig. 528 — 

 Camel of the swift breed. Fig. 539 — Camels water- 

 ing at a Reservoir, called birket, and supplied by an 

 Aqueduct, where caravans are accustomed to halt. 

 Fig. 538 — an Attack, by Arab robbers, upon a Cara- 

 van in the Desert. Fig. 540— a Bedouin Encamp- 

 ment. " Those who are, from reading or travelled ob- 

 servation, conversant with the existing manners of 

 the Asiatic pastoral tribes, as the Arabians and the 

 Tartars, can easily form in their minds a picture of 

 this great migrating party. Under the conduct of 

 their venerable emir, and the active direction and 

 control of his principal servants, we behold, from 

 the distance, a lengthened dark line stretching across 

 the plain, or winding among the valleys, or creeping 

 down the narrow pathway on the mountain side. 

 That in this line there are hosts of camels we know 

 afar oft', by the grotesque outline which the figures 

 of these animals make, their tall shapes, and their 

 length of neck ; and that the less distinguishable 

 mass which appears in motion on the surface of the 

 ground is composed of flocks of sheep, and perhaps 

 goats, we can only infer from circumstances. On 

 approaching nearer we find that all this is true, and 

 that, moreover, many of the camels are laden with 

 the tents, and with a few utensils and needments 

 which the dwellers in tents require ; and if the na- 

 tural condition of the traversed country be such as 

 to render the precaution necessary, some of the ani- 

 mals may be seen bearing provisions and skins of 

 water. The baggage camels follow each other with 

 steady and heavy tread, in files, the halter of those 

 that follow being tied to the harness of those that 

 precede, so that the foremost only needs a rider to 

 direct his course ; but nevertheless women, children, 

 and old men are seen mounted on the other burdens 

 which some of them bear. These are slaves, re- 

 tainers, and other persons not actively engaged in 

 the conduct of the party, and not of sufficient conse- 

 quence to ride on saddled dromedaries. Such are 

 reserved for the chiefs of the party, their women, 

 children, relatives, and friends; and are not, un- 

 less it happen for convenience, strung together 

 like the drudging animals which bear the heavier 

 burdens." 



533, 534. — The Bacthian Camel 



(Camelus Bactrianus). This species is at once to 

 be distinguished from the Arabian by the presence 

 of two humps on the back ; it is comparatively rare, 

 and limited in the extent of geographic range : it is 

 spread, however, through central Asia, Thibet, and 

 China, and is reported to exist in a wild state in 

 Turkestan, anciently Bactriana. Pallas states that 

 very large camels with two hunches occur wild in 

 the deserts of Shamo, towards the frontiers of China ; 

 but as the Calmucks liberate all animals upon a 

 principle of religion, we may conclude that these 

 camels are the descendants of the domestic stock. 

 Occasionally the Bactrian camel is seen in Egypt 

 and Arabia : during his travels through the latter 

 country Niebuhr saw three, and only three, speci- 

 mens— ^-and Mr. Macfarlane met with only one in 

 Asia Minor, which came from some remote pro- 

 vince. 



In 1829 a Bactrian camel was daily led about the 

 streets of London ; it was a very fine male, of a 

 dark rusty-brown colour, and very picturtsque and 

 striking in appearance, walking with a stately pace, 

 and apparently well able to bear our climate. His 

 hair was full, long, and shaggy, and hung like a fringe 

 along his throat. The natural country of this spe- 

 cies, viz. the great middle zone of Asia, to the 

 north of the Taurus and the Himalayah moun- 

 tains, is very different in temperature from the 

 hot regions of Arabia, whence it is probable that it 

 might with due precautions become naturalized in 

 Europe. 



The manners of the Bactrian camel are the same 

 as those of the Arabian, and its utility is as great as 

 that of the latter. It is the patient, laborious, and 

 willing slave of man, travelling over sandy deserts, 

 and administering to the wants of a wandering 

 people. 



The height of this species is about eight feet be- 

 tween the two humps. 



Here, then, we conclude our sketch of the history 

 of the camel — an animal, in the countries for which 

 it is specially organized, the most important and 

 valuable to man, and one of the earliest which he 

 reclaimed to his service. It is true that it has not 

 spread, like the horse and the ox, over the whole 

 globe, but the reason is evident : out of its own 

 regions its value and importance are diminished ; 

 within them no other beast of burden can compete 

 with it, and for ever will it remain, as it is and has 

 been, the ship of the desert. 



