28 THE CAMEL 



animal becomes hide-bound, the skin acting like a water- 

 proof sheet devoid of ventilation ; and without any 

 channels for the excretion of secreta the germ of 

 organic disease is sown internally, and a break-out is 

 the final and merciful result merciful because it is a 

 natural indication of internal complication, which if so 

 confined would lead to far more serious consequences 

 and which enables the animal to throw it off, and 

 man, who with all his knowledge had accelerated and 

 aggravated it, to check it. This to my mind, irrespec- 

 tive of any other reason, clearly demonstrates the vital 

 importance of water to the camel, as we will see in 

 chapter vi. 

 Causes of There can be no doubt that an unhealthy skin arises 



unhealthy JpS 



skin from impurity of blood, also from a want or excess of 

 it. This in turn must be due to a lack of vitality 

 or of proper nutrition, or from a superfluity of one 

 or both, in the system, the result principaUy of in- 

 judicious and improper diet. It is almost universally 

 acknowledged that the majority or a large proportion 

 of human iUs spring directly from the above, while a 

 careful and correct diet is the secret of an even 

 digestion. In like manner, this remark as regards the 

 camel when he falls into our hands is, I think, equally 

 applicable. I look on superfluity of blood in a camel 

 as great an evil as angemia or, if anything, worse, as apt 

 to be congestive (or to induce congestion) and to excite 

 enteric mischief, because of his predisposition to con- 

 gestion. We cannot, therefore, be too careful in respect 

 to his management if we want to get a fair equivalent of 

 work out of him, and until we do, we will never reduce 

 the enormous death-rate that we have on service. 



