194 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE, 



to do with remarkably little food, if his size and the weight 

 of his burden are taken into consideration, and he will browse 

 contentedly upon such food as he finds by the wayside, 

 supplemented by "a cake of barley, a few dates, or beans" 

 from the hands of his master. " They are particularly fond, " 

 says a writer in " Tales of Animals " , " of those vegetable 

 productions, which other animals would never touch, such 

 as plants which are like spears and daggers, in comparison 

 with the needles of the thistle, and which often pierce the 

 incautious traveller's boot." A camel can be purchased in 

 Egypt for from thirty to fifty dollars, though the high bred 

 dromedary will fetch a very much larger smn. The camel 

 will carry from five hundred to eight hundred pounds' weight, 

 but will not stir if loaded beyond his strength. He travels 

 at a uniform rate of three miles an hour, but will keep on 

 at that rate for ten or twelve hours. The dromedary attains 

 to a speed which the Arab compares to the speed of the 

 wind. 

 The Camel ^^- Macfarlane says, " I have been told that 

 and his the Arabs will kiss their Camels in gratitude and 

 *^ ®'* affection, after a journey across the desert. I 

 never saw the Turks either of Asia-Minor or Roumelia, cany 

 their kindness so far as this ; but I have frequently seen them 

 pat their Camels when the day's work was done, and talk to them 

 on their journey, as if to cheer them. The Camels appeared 

 to me quite as sensible to favour and gentle treatment as a 

 good bred horse is. I have seen them curve and twist their 

 long lithe necks as their driver approached, and often put 

 down their tranquil heads towards his shoulder. Near 

 Sm)rma, and at Magnesia and Sardes, I have occasionally 

 seen a Camel follow his master like a pet dog, and go down 

 on his knees before him, as if inviting him to mount. I 

 never saw a Turk ill use the useful, gentle, amiable quadruped. 

 But I have frequently seen him give it a portion of his own 

 dinner, when, in unfavourable places, it had nothing but 



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