AND DROMEDARY. 377 



rises with its load, and the driver getting upon its 

 buck, between the two panniers, which like ham- 

 pers are placed upon each side, he encourages the 

 camel to proceed with his voice and with a song. 

 In this manner the creature proceeds contentedly 

 forward, with a slow uneasy walk, of about four 

 miles an hour, and when it comes to its stage, 

 lies down to be unloaded as before. 



M. Buffon seems to consider the camel to be 

 the most domesticated of all other creatures, and 

 to have more marks of the tyranny of man im- 

 printed on its form. He is of opinion, that this 

 animal is not now to be found in a state of nature ; 

 that the humps on its back, the callosities upon 

 its breast and its legs, and even the great re- 

 servoir for water, are all marks of long servitude 

 and domestic constraint. The deformities he 

 supposes to be perpetuated by generation, and 

 what at first was accident at last becomes nature. 

 However this be, the humps upon the back grow 

 large in proportion as the animal is well fed, and 

 if examined, they will be found composed of a 

 substance not unlike the udder of a cow. 



The Arabs generally leave but one male to 

 wait on ten females ; the rest they castrate ; and 

 though they thus become weaker, they are more 

 manageable and patient. The female receives 

 the male in the same position as when these ani- 

 mals are loaded ; she goes with young for about 

 a year, and, like all other great animals, produces 

 but one at a time. The camel's milk is abundant 

 and nourishing, and, mixed with water, makes a 

 principal part of the beverage of the Arabians. 



