574 



YEKTEBRATA. 



TOE WELL IN THE DESEKT. 



that some "f the African caravans travel for a mnch longer time without water; but he considers 

 nine or ten days t<> 1m- the utmost, and even in such cases a good many camels die on the road; 

 indeed, it is well known that the carcasses of camels given up to the vultures, form one of the 

 common spectacles along the routes which they travel. The means by which this creature sup- 

 port- tip' Ion-- deprivation of moisture is said to be by storing up in the cells of the paunch and 

 honeycomb stomach, a sufficient supply to last for several days' consumption. This has been dis- 

 puted l'v sonic zoologists, from their finding no water in these cells on dissecting camels, and 

 Burckhardt states that no great quantity of fluid is found'in the stomachs of these animals, unless 

 they have been drinking not long before. These reasons should not, however, be considered as 

 hisive, because we do not know the ' precise conditions under which the animals had been 

 living. There seems, however, to be no truth in the popular belief that, when in great want of 

 water, tin- Arabs kill a camel for the sake of the supply contained in its stomach, for Burckhardt 

 never saw this plan put in practice, nor could he ever hear from the Arabs of their making use 

 of any such method of supplying their necessities, although they frequently entertained him with 

 accounts of the hardships they underwent in the deserts from this very cause. 



For the purpose of loading and unloading, the camels are made to kneel down, and those parte 

 of their bodies and limbs which come in contact with the ground, acquire remarkable callosities 

 in course of time. The most considerable of these is situated on the breast. They repose in the 

 Bame position, and to keep them from straying during the night, their drivers tie the foredegs in 

 a kneeling position, so that they cannot rise beyond their knees. When overloaded, it is said 

 that they obstinately refuse to rise, even when they are beaten most severely, and it appears that 

 the drivers are by no means averse to exercising their authority in this way, the poor creatures 

 being often mosl inhumanly treated. The load of a camel varies considerably, according to the 

 distance he has to ._r<. and the hardships he will have to endure. Large, powerful camels will 

 carry a weight of fifteen hundred pounds for three or four miles, and will travel for several days 

 with a load <■!' a thousand pounds. Those coming to Egypt from the interior of Africa rarely 

 carry more than five hundred weight. With such loads as these they will travel about thirty 

 miles a day. 



\ great pari of the internal trade of Asia and Africa has been for ages carried on by compa- 

 nies called Caravans, consisting of persons conducting numbers of these animals loaded with mer- 

 chandise. The pilgrimages to Mecca arc performed on the Lacks of camels, and sometimes several 

 thousan U are Been in a -ingle company. In eastern countries, journeys are usually made on the .' 



