182 THE CAMEL 



he will give tongue to a great extent if you try and 

 force him to get up, in fact, at the bare imposition of 

 the load. An older camel will be much quieter over 

 it, but will persistently refuse to budge. This is put 

 down to obstinacy, but I question if instinct has not 

 something to say to it ; and this is about the only case, 

 I think, in which a camel does show that he has just a 

 spark of some form of intelligence in him ; and it is man 

 who displays the obstinacy, when he forces the poor 

 brute to stagger along overloaded, until he falls down, 

 never to get up again. 



A camel who is young and restive, or one who is 

 vicious or in a state of ' mast,' will not always remain 

 down for the imposition of a load, but becomes frac- 

 tious and restive, and will frequently jump up. In 

 such cases it is as well to tie their fore-legs together, 

 and if they happen to be in a biting humour it is 

 perhaps advisable to stand over or in front of them 

 with a stick. Do not, however, give a stick to a driver 

 unless you are by to see he does not ill-use the animal. 

 Training The training of a camel as a beast of burden or as 



to carry 



a riding animal usually commences at a very early age, 

 and is accomplished very gradually and very system- 

 atically. The first step taken is when he is a few 

 weeks old, while the bone is yet soft and pliable and 

 his limbs supple, his legs are bent under his belly and 

 he is taught to kneel down and rise up only. When 

 he has thoroughly mastered this, and by the time he 

 has grown older and stronger, in his second year, the 

 saddle is put on him and he is taught to do the same 

 thing. In his third year, when his bones are getting 

 more set, very light loads are put on him, and he is 



