272 THE CAMEL 



by stages in comparison with its improvement in con- 

 dition. 

 HOW one A camel that is at all sick or weakly from debility 



that is , 



weak or other causes ought at once to be transferred to the 

 sick lines, or, if not bad enough for this, should be kept 

 apart and fed separately, as he does not get a chance 

 with strong healthy ones. In fact, if it were feasible, 

 it would be very much better to separate all camels 

 when feeding them on grain or green fodder. For they 

 are naturally greedy, and will bolt any food which 

 pleases them, or when they are hungry, swallowing it 

 without proper mastication, and they will regularly 

 race each other to see who will eat the most. On these 

 occasions slow eaters and weakly ones fare very badly, 

 and those who are next to bullies among whom camels, 

 like humanity, have a goodly proportion get simply 

 nothing but bites. Moral. Bullies should be isolated. 



HOW gene- A camel should never be worked either on an 

 empty or on a full stomach. One is nearly as bad as 

 the other. In the former case a feed should be given 

 them in ample time to allow for rumination, and if time 

 is limited, let the feed be a small one. In the latter 

 instance they ought not to be worked until at least four 

 hours after, so as to give them time to chew the cud 

 and digest the food. 



sleeping A camel is not a heavy sleeper, and he can ap- 



parently do with very little sleep, but what he cannot 

 dispense with, and what in fact he undoubtedly 

 requires, is rest, as well as a certain amount of time in 

 which to chew the cud. For this purpose, and to pre- 

 serve their condition, camels should be left alone for at 

 least six hours, and no one should be allowed to go 



