40 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



bushes as he passes along without halting ; and provided 

 with the extraordinary apparatus in the ventrieulus to 

 carry water, he resists the burning heat for ten or even 

 twelve days without drinking ; and if, during this space 

 of time, his food has been still more scanty than his sober 

 habits demand, or the few dates, beans, or cakes usually 

 in store for him are exhausted, the fat which composes 

 almost the whole of the hunch or hunches on his back 

 serves as an extra supply of nutriment : the hunches are 

 reduced ; their substance, re-absorbed, returns into the gene- 

 ral circulation, and supports him to the end of the journey, 

 or until he sinks under privations which no other animal, 

 differently constituted, could have borne for half the period. 



The Camel sees and hears well, but of all his senses that 

 of smell is the most acute ; by this beneficent provision, 

 when long deprived of water, he will snuff the air and dis- 

 cover its presence at the distance of more than two miles, 

 and disregarding all opposition, hasten to obtain it ; 

 stirring the water with his feet to a state of mud before he 

 drinks. By this faculty of the Camel, whole caravans are 

 sometimes saved from destruction, so that it is not only 

 eminently useful to himself, but of the most vital im- 

 portance to all who share his dangers and fatigues. 



To the wild Arab of the desert, the Camel is all that- his 

 necessities require ; he feeds on the flesh, drinks the milk, 

 makes clothes and tents of the hair, belts, sandals, saddles, 

 and buckets of the hide; he conveys himself and family on 

 his back, makes his pillow of his side, and his shelter of 

 him against the whirlwind of sand ; couched in a circle 

 around him, his camels form a fence, and in battle an in- 

 trenchment, behind which his family and property are ob- 

 stinately and often successfully defended; the dung fur- 

 nishes fuel and litter for the horses, and the urine produces 

 sal ammoniac. 



All these advantages are a necessary result of the con- 



