RUMINATING QUADRUPEDS. 157 



on 11 find plants to browse on, they very easily live without any 

 drink. 



The facility with which they abstain so long from drinking, 

 is not pure habit, but rather an effect of their formation. Inde- 

 pendent of the four stomachs which are commonly found in rumi- 

 nating animals, the Camel is possessed of a fifth bag, which serves 

 Lim as a reservoir to retain the water. This fifth stomach is pecu- 

 liar to the Camel. It is of so vast a capacity as to contain a great 

 quantity of liquor, where it remains without corruption, or with 

 out the other aliments being able to mix with it. When the ani- 

 mal is pressed with thirst, or has occasion to dilute the dry food, 

 and to macerate it for rumination, he causes a part of this water 

 to reascend into the stomach, and even to the throat, by a simple 

 contraction of the muscles. 



This animal bears about him all the marks of slavery and 

 pain ; below the breast, upon the sternum, is a thick and large 

 callosity, as tough as horn ; the like substance appears upon the 

 joiuts of the legs; and although these callosities are to be met 

 with in every animal, yet they plainly prove that they are not natu- 

 ral, but produced by an excessive constraint, and pain, as appearn 

 from their being often found filled with pus. It is therefore evi- 

 dent, that this deformity proceeds from the custom to which these 

 animals are constrained, of forcing them, when quite young, to lie 

 upon their stomach with their legs bent under them, and in that 

 cramped posture to bear not only the weight of their body, but 

 also the burdens with which they are laden. These poor animals 

 must suffer a great deal, as they make lamentable cries, especially 

 when they are overloaded; and, notwithstanding they are con- 

 tinually abused, they have as much spirit as docility. At the first 

 sign they bend their legs under their bodies, and kneeling upon 

 the ground, they are unloaded, without the trouble of lifting up 

 the load to a great height, which must happen, were they to stand 

 upright. A»:Soon as they are loaded, they raise themselves up 

 again without any assistance or support; and the conductor, 

 mounted on one of them, precedes the whole troop, who follow 

 him in the same pace as he leads. They have need of neither 



14 



