STRUCTURAL PECULIARITIES AND ANATOMICAL NOTES 29 



What we must devote special attention to is not Diet: 

 only the quality and quantity of the food, but the 



description. The immense value of this cannot be 



overrated. 1 The two former may be all right, but the 

 latter may be at fault, and may be (as it frequently is) 

 quite unsuitable, and in no way adapted to the animal. 

 In this case it is not assimilated by the digestive 

 organs, therefore not only fails to give the requisite 

 nourishment, but has the tendency to form into gas. 

 The intestines soon become deranged, and the skin gets 

 out of order, which (dependent, of course, on general 

 conditions) may lead to diarrhoea, dysentery, and other 

 serious diseases. Then he is either worked till he 

 drops, or possibly he may receive medical treatment, 

 and takes a very long time to recover. How much 

 simpler would it not be in the first instance to give 

 him the proper food, and so save useful life, infinite 

 trouble, and much expense ! Besides, such treatment 

 ensures less wear and tear of the internal organs, more 

 rest, and greater vigour. These remarks apply all the 

 more forcibly to very young camels, who require the 

 greatest care when they are weaned and able to feed 

 on their own account. 



Another point I must call attention to, for it is Liability 

 significant, and that is, that the abdominal layer of mischief 6 

 fat is not so well developed in a camel as it is in 

 other ruminants. There can be no doubt that this 

 organic defect in a great measure must account for 

 his liability to enteric and pulmonary mischief, while it 

 explains to a certain extent his constitutional delicacy. 

 It should therefore in itself be a sufficiently strong 



1 Vide chap. viii. 



