4 THE CAMEL 



us. How that Abraham, in his anxiety to secure for 

 Isaac a wife from out of his own kindred, sent his ser- 

 vants with ten camels to Nahor, in Mesopotamia ; and 

 how she was wooed and won by proxy at a well without 

 the city of Nahor ; and how, like a true Mesopotamian 

 maiden, she watered and fed the camels, accepted the 

 golden offerings of earrings and bracelets, and with the 

 consent of her parents returned to become Isaac's wife 

 neither the first nor the last romance, I expect, with 

 which a camel has been connected. We are also 

 acquainted with the anecdote of Joseph and his jealous 

 brethren. How through hatred he was thrown into a 

 pit by them, was rescued by some Midianitish mer- 

 chants, and sold for twenty pieces of silver to a com- 

 pany of Ishmaelites who came from Gilead with their 

 camels bearing spicery, balm, and myrrh, going to carry 

 it down to Egypt. And we know that the Queen of 

 Sheba, when the report of Solomon's fame reached her, 

 and in order to satisfy her own curiosity, came to 

 Jerusalem with a great train, with camels that bare 

 spices and very much gold and precious stones. Isaiah, 

 too, when he threatened the Jews for their confidence 

 in Egypt, speaks of them carrying their riches upon the 

 shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the 

 bunches of camels ; while among the Mosaic laws 

 none were more stringent than that which prohibited 

 the Jews from eating the flesh of certain beasts, the 

 camel coming within this category. 'Nevertheless, 

 these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of 

 them that divide the hoof as the camel ; because he 

 cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof, he is 

 unclean to you' facts which go far to prove that 



