THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
and inward, from their sole pads and protectively dun coats 
to the ample, sphincter-closed, water-storing sacs in their stom- 
achs (rumens), are adaptations to a desert home. 
We do not know when or where camels were first found wild 
by mankind; nor even whether the single-humped ‘Arabian’’ 
Utility of camel is a native of Arabia or Africa. Papyrus 
Camels. records show that it was well known in Egypt at 
least thirty-two centuries ago. So-called wild camels, small 
and gaunt, range the desolate sandy plateaus of northern Tibet, 
but it is probable that they are feral remnants of the herds of 
the people who built the cities there which long ago were over- 
whelmed by drifting sand. This animal cannot be said to have 
been anywhere domesticated, but only subjugated. Without 
its reluctant aid the crossing of deserts, and the rise of the locally 
mighty civilizations of the ancient Oriental world, could never 
have been accomplished in Asia, Arabia, or North Africa. It 
has been developed against its will into many forms, some 
swift and elegant, others strong but more ugly than the original 
type, yet immensely serviceable both as baggage and draught 
animals, and for an almost universal utility. 
“A camel differs from a dromedary in nothing save blood and breed. 
The camel is a pack horse; the dromedary a race horse. The camel is 
thick-built, ungainly, jolting; the dromedary has finer hair, lighter step, 
is easy of pace, and more enduring of thirst. A caravan of camels is a 
freight train; a company of Oman ‘thelul’ riders is a limited express. 
The ordinary caravan travels six hours a day and three miles an hour, but 
a good dromedary can run 70 miles a day on the stretch. A tradesman 
from Aneyza told Doughty that he had ridden from El Kasim to Taiff 
and back, a distance of over 700 miles in fifteen days! Mehsan Allayda 
once mounted his dromedary after the Friday midday prayer at El Ely, 
and prayed the next Friday in the great mosque at Damascus, about 440 
miles distant. 
“The Arabs have a saying that the camel is the greatest of all bless- 
ings given by Allah to mankind. ... His long neck gives wide range of 
vision in desert marches, and enables him to reach far to the desert shrubs 
on either side of his pathway. The cartilaginous nature of his mouth 
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