333 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



its rider an uninterrupted journey of several days and niglils. It is, therefore, less l)y positive spec d 

 than by extraordinary powers of sustained exertion, through a time and space which would ruin any 

 other quadruped, that it accomplishes its surprising feats. 



When travelling in Nubia, Burckhardt saw the camel almost in a wild state, whole herds being 

 left to pasture unattended by men ; they were kept for the sake of their flesh and milk, few being 

 employed as beasts of burden. They even appeared frightened at the approach of men and loaded 

 camels a circumstance this traveller had never before witnessed. The colour of the camel, as of most 

 domestic animals, is subject to variety. The reddish; or 'light gray, appears to be preferred to the 

 brown colour. Occasionally, black camels are seen. The Nubian camels are generally white. 1$ 

 Egypt the average price of one of these beasts of burden is from thirty to fifty dollars ; but the swift 

 Oman camels, which are much valued, sell at a higher rate, and an instance is mentioned in which 

 three hundred dollars were given for one. 



The camel is not merely valuable as a beast of burden. Its milk is used for ordinary purposes 

 by the Arabs, that of goats and sheep being generally made into butter. The Arab feeds his colt 

 with it, and even gives it to his mare. Flour made into a paste with sour camel's milk is a common 

 dish among the Bedouins ; it is called ayesk. Rice or flour boiled with sweet camel's milk, is another ; 

 it is called beliatta. 



Though the flesh of the camel is not only eaten, but relished, by the Arabs, it is not often that a 

 camel is killed for the enjoyment of this luxury ; when this does happen, the flesh is cut into large 

 pieces ; some part is boiled, and its grease mixed with lorgoul wheat boiled with some leaven and 

 then dried in the sun ; part is roasted, and, like the boiled, put on the dish of borgoul. The whole 

 tribe then partakes of the delicious feast. The grease of the camel is kept in goat-skins, and used like 

 butter. The woolly hair of the camel, which, toward the close of spring, is loose, and easily pulled 

 away from the s\in, is applied to various purposes, and woven into coarse cloth, used as coverings- 

 Even the dung of the camel is not neglected ; it forms the chief material for fuel in Egypt, Arabia, 

 and Persia, and from_the smoke, or rather soot, of this fuel, sal-ammoniac is obtained. Formerly this 

 substance was procured almost exclusively from this source, and for the manufacture of it there were, 

 in 1720, laboratories at Cairo, and in other towns of Egypt. 



THE BACTRIAN CAMEL.* 



Tins animal has two humps on the back ; its hair is shaggy, particularly under the throat ; and its 

 colour is generally dark brown. Its length is about ten feet. 



The Bactriau Camel is comparatively rare ; but in the middle zone of Asia, north of the Taurus ; 

 and the Himalaya Mountains, it is found in comparative abundance. It is very seldom seen in 

 other countries, not even in Arabia. It is stouter and more muscular than the Arabian species, 

 and its strength is proportionate. " It varies in colour from brown to white," says Dr. J. E. Gray ; 

 " and also greatly in size, strength, and quickness, according to the climate." 



Under the general term Llamat are comprehended three, if not more, species of animals, which 

 belong to the same section of the ruminants as the camel. The llamas may bo regarded as the 

 analogues of this creature ; and in the Cordilleras of Peru and Chili are the mountain repi-esentatives 

 of " the ship of the desert." 



In its outward form, except that it has no hump on the back ; in its general structure, par- 

 ticularly that of its stomach, with the power of enduring long deprivation of water ; in its large, full, 

 overhung eye ; in the mobility and division of its upper lip, the fissured nostrils, the slender neck, 

 and meagre limbs, together with the long, woolly character of its hair the llama strongly resembles 

 the camel. Destined as it is, however, to inhabit rough and rocky places, along the sides of which 

 it proceeds with free and fearless step, it requires, and has, a very different kind of foot. 



Augustin de Zerate, the Spanish treasurer-general of Peru, three centuries ago, speaks of the 

 llamas as a kind of sheep, and says : "In places where there is no snow, the natives want water, and 



* Camclus Eactrianus : Linnseus. C. Ditophus : Walther. C. Turcicus Alpinus, tlie Baclrian Camel: Pennant. Le 

 Cliameau: Buffoii. The Trampeltheir : Knorr. t Auclicnia : llliger. Lama: Cuvier. 



