1 52 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



devoted to the purposes of occasional trade, re- 

 cruiting the strength of the Camels, and procuring 

 additional stores of provisions and water. A par- 

 ticular mode of easy conveyance is provided for 

 women and children, and for persons oppressed 

 with infirmity or illness: six or eight Camels are 

 yoked together in a row ; and a number of tent 

 poles are placed in parallel lines upon their backs : 

 these are covered with carpets : and bags of corn 

 are superadded to bring the floor to a level, as well 

 as to soften the harshness of the Camels move- 

 ments : other carpets are then spread, and the 

 travellers sit or lie down with the most perfect ease. 

 The general food of the Camels is such only as 

 their nightly pasture affords ; and is frequently 

 confined to the hard and thorny shrubs of the 

 desert, where a sullen kind of vegetation is created 

 by the rains of the winter, and sustained by the 

 dew that descends in copious abundance through 

 all the remainder of the year. 



But the peculiar and distinguishing characteristic 

 of the Camel, is its faculty of abstaining from water 

 for a greater length of time than any other animal ; 

 for which Nature has made a wonderful provision, 

 in giving it, besides the four stomachs which it has 

 in common with other ruminating animals, a fifth 

 bag, serving as a reservoir for water, where it 

 remains without corrupting or mixing with the 

 other aliments. When the Camel is pressed with 

 thirst, and has occasion for water to macerate its 

 food while ruminating, it makes part of it pass into 

 its stomach, by a simple contraction of certain 

 muscles. By this singular structure, it can take a 

 prodigious quantity of water at one draught, and is 

 enabled to pass several days without drinking; Leo 



