888 ON THE 



Man Camel, with only one hunch, which is to be 

 found in Persia, Egypt, and more generally in 

 Arabia, the Barbary States, and beyond the 

 great African Desarts, as far as Nigritia. 



It is to the Arabian Camel with which my ex- 

 perience in Africa has rendered me the most fa- 

 miliar, that 1 wish to invite your attention, more 

 particularly as it is this animal which is the most 

 comprehensively used, and the best calculated to 

 overcome the local difficulties, peculiar to the 

 countries in which it is to be found. 



This most useful animal, which has been im- 

 properly denominated by Linneeus, the Drome- 

 dary, (a term applied by the Natives to a swifter 

 species of Camel,) like the Kbphant, is not cal- 

 culated, at first sight, to make a pleasing impres- 

 sion on the mind of the stranger. 



A small head with short ears, and dull, heavy 

 eyes, united by a long and very arched neck to 

 a coarsely formed body, with a large hunch in the 

 middle of the back; a tail with a full bush of 

 hair at its extremity, hanging most ungracefully 

 to the first joint of the hind legs; straight and 

 disproportioned legs terminating in clumsy look- 

 ing feet; and a slow, but long striding pace, in 

 which the head is thrown most awkwardly pro- 

 minent; are a!l circumstances peculiarly unfa- 

 vourable to the external appearance ot this 

 animal 



But, upon a nearer examination we shall find. 



