336 



CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



make them contain a more than ordinary quantity, as a supply for their journey ; at least, such is the 

 account given by those who have been in Egypt. 



" When the cud has been chewed, it has to pass along the upper part of the second cavity before 

 it can reach the third. How this is effected, without its falling into the cellular portion, could not, 

 from any inspection of dried specimens, be ascertained ; but when the recent stomach is accurately 

 examined, the mode in which this is managed becomes very obvious. 



" At the time that the cud is to pass from the mouth, the muscular band contracts with so much 

 force, that it not only opens the orifice of the second cavity, but, acting on the mouth of the third, brings 

 it forward into the second, by which means the muscular ridges that separate the rows of cells are brought 

 close together, so as to exclude these cavities from the canal through which the cud passes." 



The camel treads flat on its toes, cushioned as they are 'beneath with large, spreading, callous, 

 elastic pads, connecting them together, and extended Intel-ally beyond them, the horn-covered tips being 



THE DIIOMEDAHY. 



alone free and separate. This cushion expands, by pressure, at each step a special provision of the 

 beneficent Creator for the comfort of the animal in passing over a sandy, yielding surface, while on hard 

 or stony ground the elasticity of the pad gives ease to its movements. 



As kneeling is the camel's natural state of repose, and as, in this posture, it receives its load, it is 

 provided with certain callosities on which to throw the weight of the body, both in kneeling down and 

 rising up. The largest of these occupies the chest, which is always brought to the ground : one is placed 

 on each elbow and knee of the fore limbs, one on the front of each knee of the hind limbs, and a very 

 small one on the outer side of each hock. With these callosities, the young camel is born, and it may 

 be remarked that a similar pad is spread on the breast of the ostrich, which dwells in the desert 

 and reclines on its chest. 



Thorny shrubs, date-leaves, and the leaves and branches of the tamarisk, are its staple diet ; and 

 dates, beans the hard kernels of which it crushes to powder with cakes of tarley, provided by its 

 master, suffice to refresh it during its wearisome journeys. Perfectly adapted to it, therefore, are 

 its strong incisors, canine teeth, and canine-like molars, which enable it to browse <m the coarsest 

 shrubs with ease, and also to sever branches of considerable thickness. With its cleft, prehensile, and 



