126 ANIMALS AND INSECTS 



Like the goats, camels need very little to eat, and 

 what they do eat no other creature seems to want. 

 Old baskets and matting seem to give them as much 

 pleasure as a bone gives a dog. Indeed, they are so 

 fond of dry things that they will eat the thatch off 

 the roofs of houses whenever they can reach it. In 

 one place in Africa where the houses are made 

 entirely of thatch supported by poles, a caravan 

 of camels would eat the village up if the houses 

 were not protected with vines bearing long, sharp 

 thorns. 



Perhaps you have already learned how one of the 

 stomachs of the camel is fitted to retain much of the 

 water that it drinks. If it were not for those small 

 sacs which absorb the water from the stomach and 

 keep it until it is needed, a camel could never go four 

 or five days without a drink of water. More than 

 that, the humps upon their backs are composed of 

 fat, and these are gradually absorbed and used as 

 nourishment if the camels are obliged to go long 

 without food. 



Is it any wonder, then, that camels are called 

 ''ships of the desert," when they are able to traverse 

 those dry, sandy wastes laden with provision and 

 merchandise for their masters, but needing very little 

 provision for themselves? 



The camel, too, gives milk, and from the long, 

 silky hair which grows on parts of its body a very 

 soft, warm cloth is made. 



As it is with the plants and flowers, so it is with 

 animals, — each kind is wonderfully adapted to live 

 in the locality where it is found. The camel would 



