284 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



and we do not want camels for use in Lapland 

 any more than we need reindeer in Kordofan. 

 If it does not live exactly on air, the humblest 

 and most meagre of fare serves its purpose. 

 It smacks its pendulous lips over such dread- 

 ful vegetables as prickly pear, oleander, arte- 

 misia or tamarisk. It revels in mimosa or 

 salsola. Thanks to the wonderful storage 

 apparatus in its stomach, it can go without 

 water for days together. Its working life lasts 

 twenty-five years. When its hour is near, its 

 Moslem owner finishes it off with his knife, 

 else he would not be permitted by Koranic 

 law to eat its flesh, for animals that die a 

 natural death are not accounted clean food by 

 followers of the Prophet. In life the female 

 camel provides her master with milk for him- 

 self and his young- horses, camel's milk being 

 considered excellent nourishment for swift 

 steeds of noble race. In death, her skin 

 makes splendid covering for the tents of the 

 desert men, and her flesh is eaten with relish. 

 The flesh of a young camel is not to be 

 despised. Of that of one that has worked by 

 the sweat of its brow for twenty-five years 

 let others speak who know, but the Arab is 

 little more of an epicure than his camel and 

 doubtless appreciates its flavour. 



All the camel's greatness is in its body. Its 

 mind, when not a blank, seems hideous. We 



