146 THE CAMEL 



Arabian species born in a cold climate, being unac- 

 customed to great heat, would, if worked in a hot 

 climate, drink twice as much as he would in his 

 own country. So at least I have found. As to the 

 amount, I have on several occasions seen camels drink 

 as much as twenty gallons, after five to seven days' 

 abstinence in great heat and when hard worked and 

 there was no restraining them ; and after three or four 

 days I have seen them stow away with ease from ten to 

 fifteen gallons. As a matter of fact the amount a 

 camel will drink depends in a great measure on the 

 weather and the changes of temperature, and varies 

 accordingly. The greater the heat, the greater the 

 quantity of water they drink, and the more they 

 require. But it also depends on the amount of work 

 they are doing, and the quality as well as quantity of 

 food they are getting. For if the former is severe, and 

 the latter dry and deficient in bulk, their stomachs will 

 have a natural craving for more water. And vice 

 versd, when the weather is cold, or if work is light, 

 food green or plentiful, they can do with much less. 

 Many natives, both in India and Afghanistan, have 

 told me this, and the frequent evidence of my own 

 senses has entirely confirmed it. V.-S. Steel, writing on 

 this point, says : ' My experienced sarwan (a somewhat 

 aged man, who had been with camels all his life) told 

 me that in hot weather camels required watering every 

 day ; in cold they began to fail when without it for 

 three days, and if denied it for five days they would 

 die/ 



The former portion of this statement is quite correct, 

 but the latter, though right in its general principles, is 



