BKEEDING 119 



noticed that it was confined to any particular season of 

 the year. The female is, if anything, smaller than the 

 male, and more deficient in power behind, and when 

 having connection she does so in the same crouching 

 attitude as when at rest, the male being in a semi- 

 recumbent position. When in the act they embrace 

 each other in the ordinary way, like other quadrupeds, 

 and not buttock to buttock as is commonly supposed ; 

 and unlike horses or oxen they spend the whole day in 

 this occupation, and keep themselves aloof, allowing 

 no one except the owner or driver to come near them. 

 The camel does not usually arrive at the age of puberty 

 until he is in his fifth year, and Aristotle, I think, must 

 make a mistake when he says that they begin to have 

 connection when they are three years old. It is during 

 this rutting season when, as previously observed, the 

 male camel produces a palatal flap, which is a tolerably 

 certain sign of his condition ; though there are other 

 times out of season when, in a moment of irritation, 

 and when moistening his mouth and throat to allay 

 feelings of thirst, it also appears. After the female has 

 conceived the average period of gestation is one year, 

 though it sometimes happens that it only lasts eleven 

 months, and occasionally is lengthened to thirteen. 

 Only one calf is produced at a birth. 



A newly-born camel of the Arabian species stands Growth 

 about two and a half feet high at birth, and after eight 

 years is three feet or a trifle more, dependent, however, 

 in a great measure on its breed. It is said not to reach 

 full growth until its sixteenth year ; and if there is any 

 truth in this and I see no reason to doubt it, as the 

 camel's ordinary term of existence is believed to be 



