4 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



the great hoof, flattened on the internal side, which 

 envelops the whole lower part of each toe, and de- 

 termines the figure of the ordinary cleft-foot, they 

 have but one small one, which adheres only to the 

 last phalanx, and of a symmetrical form, like the hoofs 

 of the pachydermata. Their swelled and cleft lip, 

 their long neck, their prominent orbits, the weakness 

 of their crupper, the disagreeable proportion of their 

 legs and feet, make them in some degree deformed 

 beings, but their extreme sobriety, and the faculty 

 they have of passing many days without water, 

 render them extremely useful. 



This faculty results probably from certain large 

 collections of little cells, with which the sides of the 

 paunch are furnished, and in which water is retained 

 or continually produced. The other ruminants have 

 nothing of the kind. 



The camels urinate backward, but they copulate 

 in the ordinary manner, though not without much 

 difficulty. In the rutting season a foetid humour 

 is secreted on the head. 



The Camels, properly so called, 



Have the two toes united underneath, nearly to the 

 point, by a common sole, and the back charged with 

 lumps of grease. They are large animals of the 

 old world, of which two species are known, both 

 entirely subdued to a domestic state *. 



• Pallas relates, on the word of the Buchares and Tartars, that there are 

 wild Camels in the Desert of Central Asia ; but we must observe that 

 the Calmuks, from a religious principle, give liberty to all sorts of animals. 



