EFFECTS OF LABOUR ON THE CAMEL 421 



piloiim, as he wanders to Mecca to perform his* devotions 



at the prophet's tomb. In long array, winding like a snake, 



the caravan traverses the desert. Each 



dromedary is loaded, according to its 



strength, with from six hundred to a 



thousand pounds, and knows so well the 



limits of its endurance, that it suffers 



no overweight, and will not stir before 



it be removed. Thus, with slow and 



Dromedary 



measured pace, the caravan proceeds at 



the rate of ten or twelve leagues a day, often requiring many a 



week before attaining the end of its journey. 



Wlien we consider the deformity of the camel, we cannot 

 doubt that its nature has suffered considerable changes from the 

 tliraldom and unceasing labours of more than one millenium. Its 

 servitude is of older date, more complete, and more irksome, 

 than that of any other domestic animal — of older date, as it in- 

 habits the countries which history points out to us as the cradle 

 of mankind ; more complete, as all other domestic animals still 

 have their wild types roaming about in unrestrained liberty, 

 while the whole camel race is doomed to slavery; more irk- 

 some, finally, as it is never kept for luxury or state like 

 so many horses, or for the table like the ox, the pig, or the 

 sheep, but is merely used as a beast of transport, which its 

 master does not even give himself the trouble to attach to a cart, 

 but whose body is loaded like a living wagon, and frequently 

 even remains burdened during sleep. 



Thus, the camel bears all the marks of serfdom. Large naked 

 callosities of horny hardness cover the lower part of the breast 

 and the joints of the legs, and although they are never wanting, 

 yet they themselves give proof that they are not natural, but 

 that they have been produced by an excess of misery and ill- 

 treatment, as they are frequently found filled with a purulent 

 matter. 



The back of the camel is still more deformed by its single or 

 double hump than its breast or legs by their callosities ; and as 

 the latter are evidently owing to the position in which the hea- 

 vily burthened beast is forced to rest, it may justly be inferred 

 that the hump also, which merely consists of an accumulation of 

 fat, did not belong to the primitive animal, but has been pro- 



