110 THE CAMEL 



At all events no harm can be done in trying the 

 experiment, and much good may accrue. Already there 

 is a good opportunity in Australia, where the adoption 

 of the camel is only in its infancy, while the whole of 

 South Africa, from the Zambesi to the Cape, with one 

 or two exceptions, is the very country for the camel. 

 It is a broad question, and one well worth the study of 

 all deep-thinking men, who take an interest in the 

 opening up of the vast wilds of Central Africa, and in 

 the growth of civilisation and development northwards 

 from the Colony. And not only broad but beneficial, 

 for just as I feel sure that there is a great future before 

 Australia and South Africa looming in the not far distant 

 future, so I believe that the camel will assist materi- 

 ally in extending and establishing it, by piercing the 

 unknown interior, and by accelerating communication 

 with out-of-the-way places which cannot be reached 

 by any other means. 



Heredity In order, however, to understand thoroughly and 



vism clearly this question of breeding, it is first of all necessary 

 that we should be acquainted with the principles of 

 ' heredity ' and ' atavism.' The former is said to be 

 the transmission of certain constitutional characteristics, 

 or mental and instinctive qualities, of parents to their 

 offspring ; but in reality it is the transmission of ten- 

 dencies, and not of conditions. The latter is a dis- 

 position, or tendency, in offspring to return to or 

 resemble in some special feature or it is the recurrence 

 of a peculiarity or weakness of the ancestral type. I 

 cannot do better here than quote some very pithy 

 remarks on the subject by Dr. H. Smith Williams : 

 ' The explanation,' he says, ' is found in the fact that 



