42 CLASS MAMMALIA, 



this sagacity to appreciate his own interests had already in 

 the earliest ages carried the Camel over India, China, and 

 middle Russia, it is certainly rather surprising that the 

 Romans, in their frequent wars in Northern Africa, should 

 not have found them of sufficient importance to be men- 

 tioned, till Procopius first notices Camel-riding Moors in 

 arms against Solomon, the Lieutenant of Belisarius : from 

 that period, and most particularly during the progress of 

 the sword of the Koran to Morocco, the Camel is the most 

 striking, and considered the most useful, animal in the 

 country. It is probable that this animal increased in pro- 

 portion as agriculture diminished, at least the two facts 

 are coeval. With the Koran, also, the Camels first crossed 

 the Bosphorus, and spread with the Turks over their pre- 

 sent dominions in Europe ; the late Emperor Leopold, when 

 Grand Duke of Tuscany, introduced them into Italy, where 

 they have since multiplied considerably, and they would no 

 doubt be useful in rural economy, if transferred to our 

 colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Sierra Leone, and the 

 interior of New Holland. 



The Camel, emphatically described by the Arabian epithet 

 the Ship of the Desert, is in truth the link by which many 

 nations separated by boundless wastes are connected, 

 not only in all their commercial relations, but even in 

 almost every communication : his strength, docility, and 

 endurance of privations alone render the intercourse prac- 

 ticable: but it is only in those regions that his utility stands 

 unrivalled; in other countries, as for example India, his 

 qualifications are less pre-eminent, though certainly still 

 invaluable. In that country thousands are employed to 

 convey the baggage of the British armies, but they proceed 

 with difficulty through broken ground ; from the length of 

 their legs, they are apt to, what is termed, split, or dis- 

 locate their limbs on slippery soil ; still in prolonged 

 forced marches they keep up better than elephants or 



