THE FLOCKS AND HERDS 



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depends upon climatal peculiarities. It is peculiarly fitted, 

 by its ancestral training and development, for the use of men 

 who dwell in arid countries. In the olden days of the 

 later Tertiary epoch, creatures akin to the camels appear to 

 have been widely distributed, and were probably adapted to 

 considerable variations of environment. Within the time of 

 which we know something by history, these forms have been 



The Great Caravan Road — Central Asia 



limited to the arid districts of southwestern Asia and northern 

 Africa. It is not certain that we know the originally wild 

 form of either of the two species, the double-humped or 

 single-humped camels. Wild members of each exist, but they 

 may be the descendants of the domesticated forms. It seems 

 probable that long before the building of the Pyramids the 

 people of the deserts had learned how to profit from the very 

 peculiar qualities of this strangely provided beast, which in 

 several distinct ways is singularly fitted to serve the needs of 



