CHARACTERISTICS AND TEMPERAMENT 45 



race has taught us that, even as the worm will turn, so 

 man, enslaved and downtrodden by continuous tyranny 

 and coercion, will seek revenge by fair means or foul, 

 invariably the latter. Why not the camel, then ? Too 

 dense to think of a way in which he can outwit his 

 driver by putting him off the scent, and so taking him 

 unawares, and roused to that pitch when even the 

 crawling worm will rise to the occasion, he works him- 

 self into a perfect fury, and, rushing at the tyrant open- 

 mouthed, his formidable teeth and powerful jaws do 

 serious damage. I have read somewhere that the Turks 

 in Asia Minor used to train their camels to fight, pre- 

 viously muzzling them ; that then the camels would 

 get up on their hind legs and regularly wrestle with 

 each other, using their fore legs, and striking each other 

 on the head with them. Whether this barbarous prac- 

 tice is still indulged in I cannot say, but it is a fact 

 worth noticing as throwing a fresh light on the dis- 

 position of this very peculiar animal, for it would seem 

 to demonstrate that a certain amount of the spirit of 

 aggression is still left in him, and only requires some 

 encouragement to bring it out ; though I imagine, if 

 the truth were known, these fights most likely took 

 place in the rutting season, when the camel's temper is 

 uncertain, and he is prone to be irritable and fierce. 

 For my own part I would not call the camel vindictive, 

 but he is undoubtedly liable to periodical outbursts of Liability 



H P x VL ' n 1 t0 P eriodi - 



passion or fits of temporary insanity, especially when caifitsof 

 in the state just described. That shrewd old observer, 

 Aristotle, among other things, mentions three facts that 

 are worthy of note viz. (1) 'Liability of the camel to 

 madness ' ; (2) ' excessive anger with man or other 



