516 UNGULATA. 



bones so closely that the road seems to pass through a heap of bleach- 

 ing skeletons. 



The Camel lives entirely on vegetables, and is not particular what he 

 eats. The driest and most withered herbage of the desert, sharp reed- 

 grass, half-dead twigs enable him to support life for weeks. Under cer- 

 tain circumstances, an old mat or an old date-basket is a delicacy for 

 him. In Soudan, the houses which are thatched with grass required to 

 be protected from his attacks. No thorns or prickles seem to affect his 

 palate ; he will eat twigs of the mimosa, the spikes of which will even 

 penetrate the sole of a boot. When at evening the caravan rests, the 

 camels are turned out, and they rove from tree to tree, eating off every 

 accessible branch. But more juicy food is always acceptable to them ; 

 in the fields of millet, beans, peas, and corn of all kinds, they work fear- 

 ful havoc. During long journeys through the desert, when it is neces- 

 sary to keep the burden as light as possible, the Arab takes a little barley 

 for his camel, and gives him about two hands-full. But, in general, the 

 leaves of various trees are their favorite food. If the Camel is living on 

 juicy plants, he can go without water for weeks. Most of the accounts 

 respecting the animal's power of abstaining from water are, however, 

 fables. Stories that they can travel fourteen or twenty days without 

 water are laughed at by the Arabs. In the dry season, the Camel on a 

 journey must not only have sufficient food and water, but a rest of 

 nearly one day in four. Only in rare cases, usually when one of the 

 expected wells is dry, is the Camel permitted to go so long without 

 water. The opinion that the large cells in the first division of the 

 stomach serve as reservoirs for water, and that in extreme need the 

 traveler can, by killing his camel, obtain water, is declared by Brehm to 

 be unfounded. That distinguished traveler, who knows the camel as 

 well as a farmer knows the horse, says that he had put inquiries to all 

 camel-drivers, and they all affirmed that they had never heard such a 

 monstrous lie. He tells us that he has seen camels killed which had 

 been drinking the day before, and convinced himself that it was utterly 

 impossible to drink any fluid which had been for twenty-four hours in 

 the stomach mixed with the Camel's food and gastric juices; the- very 

 smell of a Camel's stomach when cut open being intolerable. But we 

 must remember that men dying of thirst are not very particular as to 

 the quality of the liquid which may save their lives. The water obtained 

 from the stomach of the Camel is light-green in color, very unpleasant, 



