ORDER RUMINANTIA. 37 



by us, had fallen over on her back, and was unable to re- 

 cover herself from that perilous position. The Cow placed 

 the tip of her horns close under the side of the animal, and 

 gave a slight toss, so dexterously managed, as to enable the 

 Ewe to get instantly on her feet ; meantime the other sheep 

 had dispersed, and the two animals walked their way. 



The Camels. (Camelus, Linn.) 



The name by which these animals are generally known 

 in Europe, is evidently derived from an eastern root — Dje- 

 mel of the Arabs, Gamel or Gimal of the Hebrews, and 

 points out the quarter where they have been domesticated 

 from a period anterior to all historical documents. In the 

 systematic arrangements of the ruminating order, authors 

 place them at the head of the series, because they possess 

 exclusively some characters, which indicate still an affinity 

 with the Pachydermous families, and others which are 

 strictly their own. Among the former are the anomalous 

 character of the teeth, a thick hide, and the horny soles of 

 their- feet ; among the latter, that additional pouch or large 

 fold in the paunch, serving as a reservoir for water, and the 

 structure of the urinary apparatus, which renders them re- 

 tromingent : but the presence or absence of the hunch or 

 hunches on the back, and the callosities on the sternum and 

 joints may be questioned, some eminent naturalists having 

 even asserted, that they were not natural but accidental 

 characters, the result of long subjection and absolute slavery. 

 Notwithstanding the assertion of the Negroes, that camels 

 in a wild state are still to be found in the mountains of Cen- 

 tral Africa, and of others, that an unreclaimed species exists 

 in the country of the Calmucks ; it may be doubted whether 

 they be other than strayed or emancipated individuals*. 



* According to M. Desmouiins, the Camel existed in a wild 

 state in Arabia in the time of Artemidorus, or the period of Hadrian. 



