378 HOOFED ANIMALS 



purposes ; of it are made tents, shields, harness, saddles, 

 trunks, &c. 



Of the real history of the Camel little is known. Whether 

 Asiatic or African, there is no record of a Camel that was 

 not the property and the servant of man from the time 

 when Abraham possessed oxen, asses, and Camels (Gen. 

 xii. 16), or when the sons of Reuben took from the Hagar- 

 ites when "they were delivered unto their hands, of their 

 Camels fifty thousand." The Beni Sakkar Arabs, who 

 now dwell in the Hagarites' country, are said to possess a 

 hundred thousand Camels ; and the sheikh of the Anazeh, 

 one of the foremost Bedouin tribes, can put into the field 

 ten thousand horsemen and ninety thousand Camel-drivers. 



BACTRIAN CAMEL (Camelus bactrianus). 

 Coloured Plate XXVII. Fig. 2. 



The Bactrian Camel, inhabiting the desert regions of 

 Central Asia, is recognised at once by its double hump. It 

 is a heavier animal, and its legs are shorter and its hair 

 longer than in the foregoing species. The legs in particular 

 render it better fitted for traversing rocky regions than its 

 Arabian relative. In habits and disposition the Bactrian 

 Camel is very similar to that of Arabia, and to the nomads 

 of Central Asia it is every whit as important from an 

 economic point of view. The Persians use it for their cele- 

 brated Camel artillery, a light swivel-gun being mounted 

 on the saddle and worked by the rider. 



In the Gobi Desert are wild Camels that are supposed to 

 be the descendants of domesticated animals which have 

 escaped from captivity. Over two centuries ago a rather 

 populous district, Taka Makun by name, was swept by 

 a devastating sandstorm. It is said that not a single human 

 being escaped, but probably some of the Camels survived, 

 and it is from these animals that the present wild ones took 

 their rise. They are exceedingly difficult to capture, for in 

 the deep, loose sand of these regions horses are quite help- 

 less in the chase. 



