Ml CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



often, in spite of this precaution, the pungency of the odour is such as to produce so violent an 

 hwmorrhage as to end in death. I have," he adds, "gained accurate information respecting this 

 circumstance ; and, as I have heard the same thing talked of by some Armenians who had been to 

 Boutan, I think that it is true. The odour is so powerful in the East Indies, that I could never 

 support it ; and when I trafficked for musk, I always kept it in the open air, with a handkerchief over 

 my face, and kept at a distance from those who handled the sacs, referring them to my broker ; and hence, 

 I know by experience, that this musk is very apt to give head-aches, and is altogether insupportable 

 when quite recent. I add, that no drug is so easily adulterated, or more apt to be so." 



There are some other species of Moschus, as the Kubaya,* a native of Siberia ; the White-bellied 

 Musk ;t and the Golden-eyed Musk,J also from Nepaul. Another is the size of a large hare; the body is 

 heavy, but the limbs are very delicate. Sii Stamford Raffles states that this species frequents thickets 

 near the sea-shore, and feeds principally on the berries of a species of ardisla. He adds that it can 

 easily be trained when taken young, and will become quite .familiar. 



Another genus|| of ruminant animals is without horns we mean Camels. Camels constituted, 

 as we learn from Scripture, an important part of patriarchal wealth. Of Job it is said, in his final 

 prosperity : " He had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of 

 oxen, and a thousand 'she-asses." 



The genus now under consideration includes two species : the Dromedary, and the Bactrian 

 Caniel. 



THE DROMEDARY, OR ARABIAN CAMEL.*: 



THIS animal is distinguished from the Bactrian camel by its being of a somewhat slighter make, and 

 having only one large fatty hump upon the back. Its length is about eight feet ; its hair pale brown. 



Strange and yet imposing is the form of this animal. Its height, its apparently uncouth propor- 

 tions, its long thin iieck, its meagre limbs, and its huge hump, are all singular.. It is covered with shaggy 

 hair, so irregularly disposed as to form in one part tangled masses, and in another to be almost wanting. 

 Its thick, mobile upper lip is deeply divided ; its feet are large and spreading, the toes being merely 

 tipped with little hoofs. If it stands, it does so quietly, in one fixed attitude, its long-lashed eyelids 

 drooping over its large dark eyes ; if it stalks onward, it is with slow and measured steps, which one 

 might suppose to be painful. And yet, as it was probably indigenous to Arabia and the neighbouring 

 regions, so its structure is admirably adapted to the desert, as its destined abode. It is, indeed, one of . 

 the. most valuable blessings which the bountiful Creator has bestowed on the Oriental nations. 



It carries its head so high, it can discern the green oasis in the sea of sand at a surprising 

 distance, and so acute is its sense of smell, that it can scent the water when very far off. Living 

 beneath a burning sky, a beetling brow overarches the large eye-ball, and long lashes fringe the upper 

 lid, thus to defend the organ from the glare of light. Constantly exposed to clouds of suffocating 

 dust, its nostrils are so constructed as to exclude, as much as possible, the particles of sand driven by 

 the wind. They are in the form of slits, converging towards each other, with elevated margins, the 

 upper of which is capable of being shut down, like the lid of a box, so as to close the aperture, or to 

 keep it open to any degree, at pleasure. 



According to Sir Everard Home : " The camel's stomach, anteriorly, forms one large bag ; but, 

 when laid open, this is found to be divided into two compartments, on its posterior part, by a strong 

 ridge, which passes down from the right aide of the orifice of the oesophagus, in a longitudinal direc- 

 tion. This ridge forms one side of a groove, that leads to the orifice of the second cavity, and is 

 continued on beyond that part, becoming one boundary to the cellular structure, met with in that 

 situation. From this ridge, eight strong muscular bands go off at right angles, and afterwards form 



* SI. Sibiricus. t SI. leucogaster. J M. cbrysogaster. 



SI. Javanicus: Gmelin and Raffles. Tragulus Javaniciis Pallas : SI. Xapu, E. Cuvier. 



|| Gamal of the Hebrews. Djemal of the Arabs. Ko/mXoc of the Greeks. Camelus of the Romai:s. Camello of (he 

 Italians. Chameau of the French. Kamecl of the Germans. 



T .i The Arabian Camel: Pennant. Le Dromedaire : BulFon, Camelus Dromedarius: Linranis. C. Liik : Eversmann. 

 C. rulgarU: Fori-kal. C. Dromas : Gesner. 



