ORDER RUMINANTIA. 43 



oxen. It is asserted that the Bactrian species will carry 

 from one thousand to one thousand two hundred weight ; 

 but the Arabian, as used in India, seldom bears more than 

 seven hundred, and under this load will move, at the rate 

 of two and a half miles an hour ; across the immense plains 

 of the Zahara, where water and food are rarely dispersed, 

 their journeys being necessarily longer, are made at the 

 rate of three miles the hour, and the animals seldom carry 

 more than four hundred weight. 



The Camel was used in war long before the invasion of 

 Egypt by the French. Without referring to the ancients, 

 the Chinese employed them in 1755-9 against the Eleuths : 

 their Military Mandarin and Commander-in-Chief, Akony, 

 carried swivels on their backs. In India, camels similarly 

 armed precede the Nabobs on occasions of state, to fire 

 salutes ; and the East India Company maintains a corps of 

 dromedaries, mounted by two men each, and armed with 

 musquetoons or swivels. Amongst the Arabs and Tartars 

 the Camels are led out to browse on the pastures in large 

 flocks, the males being kept separate from the females, and 

 both return at night to the habitations ; their tongue is 

 soft and long, and they are particularly fond of salt. The 

 males, more especially in the rutting season, are impatient 

 and quarrelsome among each other. In their battles they 

 bite with great vehemence, endeavouring at the same time 

 to press their opponent down with the weight of their 

 shoulders. In these struggles they madden, as the trans- 

 lator of Antar expresses it, at each other, with awkward 

 fury, till one is compelled to fly, or is thrown down and 

 trampled upon by the victor. At this period they are, on 

 certain occasions of festivity, led out and made to fight for 

 show ; and we must not upbraid the patient cruelty that 

 excites them to the combat, since this favoured country, 

 with all its enlightened philanthropy, is not without its 

 numerous abettors of similar disgraceful practices. Aleppo 



