156 VERTEBRATES. 



of the Camel is furnished with an additional bag, foiined as a re- 

 servoir to contain a far larger quantity of water than is necessary 

 for immediate use. On this account, he can continue a much 

 longer time without drinking than any other quadruped, and is 

 thus prepared and fitted for being useful to man as a beast of 

 burden, in passing over extensive deserts, where a supply of water 

 is rarely to be found. It seems also that the Camel has the power 

 of closing its nostrils, so that the smallest particle of sand is ex- 

 cluded. This faculty renders it more suited to the life to which 

 it is destined, in carrying merchandise over extensive sandy 

 regions. The Camel, though naturally gentle and docile, is pro- 

 verbially revengeful. No irrational animal remembers an injury 

 longer, or resents it with greater severity. Hence, among the 

 Arabs, " a camel's anger " is a proverb employed to denote deter- 

 mined and deep-rooted enmity. 



The Arabs regard the Camel as a present from heaven, a 

 sacred animal, without whose aid they could neither subsist, trade, 

 nor travel. It has been emphatically called the ship of the desert 

 Its milk is their common nourishment ; they likewise eat its flesh, 

 especially that of the young ones, which they reckon v^ry good. 

 The hair of these animals, which is fine, and soft, is renewed every 

 year, and serves them to make stufis for their clothing and their 

 furniture. Blessed with their camels, they not only w»nt for 

 nothing, but they even fear nothing. 



Large and strong camels generally carry a thousand, and 

 even twelve hundred weight; the smaller only six or seven hun- 

 dred. In tjiese commercial journeys, they do not travel quick j 

 and, as the route is often seven or eight hundred miles, they regu- 

 late their stages; they only walk, and go every day ten or twelve 

 miles ; they are disburthened every evening, and are sufiered to 

 feed at liberty. If they are in a part of the country where there 

 is pasture, they eat enough in one hour to serve them twenty-four, 

 and to ruminate on during the whole night; but the^eldom meet 

 with pastures, and this delicate food is not necessary for them : 

 they even seem to prefer wormwood, thistles, nettles, furze, and 

 other thorny vegetables, to the milder herbs ; and so long as they 



