CHAKACTERISTICS AND TEMPERAMENT 53 



called ' obstinacy ' by some, but the poor brute, in addi- 

 tion to ill-usage, is a much maligned animal, and I 

 prefer to use the word ' tenacity,' and without any 

 stretch of imagination I should call it ' pluck.' It is 

 simply wonderful to see him plod along although ut- 

 terly worn out. He does not give in easily, but clings 

 to life, and goes on and on until he drops ; and when he 

 does drop, you may take it as a foregone conclusion that 

 he will never get up again. Of course there are cases 

 when they recover, but they are rare, and the chances 

 are a hundred to one against it. His calm, stoical endu- 

 rance under intense pain and suffering has excited 

 many a time my compassion as well as my admi- 

 ration. It has often been a puzzle to me how he could 

 have possibly undergone what without exaggeration 

 must have been positive torture, and some of the 

 things I have seen, were I to relate them, would hardly 

 be credited except as ' Munchausen ' fiction. I know I 

 could hardly believe at first that I was an eye-witness 

 and an unwilling participator in them, but custom soon 

 makes one callous, and familiarises one to the most 

 heartrending and sanguinary scenes, though my pity 

 for these poor sufferers was great, and I always did 

 what I could for them. 



Here, at all events, Nature, if sparing as regards Senses 

 meting out a due amount of intelligence to the camel, 

 has been lavish with her gifts, and given him acute 

 sight, smell, and hearing, though I must again confess 

 that I myself have never seen any unusual evidence of 

 the powers of any one of them. So keen is the first, 

 travellers and others have asserted that, aided by the 

 elevation at which he can carry his head, he can detect 



