THE CAMEL. 195 



and saw the maiestic apparition hovering above him, and made 

 frantic efforts to get out of the way, but the camel reached out 

 and bit him on the shoulder before he accomplished it. This was 

 the only pleasing incident of the journey." 



Camels are said to be strangely influenced by musical sounds, 

 which certainly seem to soothe their savage breasts. When they 

 are fatigued with the day's long march and no amount of beating 

 will make them hasten their speed, the singing by the driver of 

 some Arabian melody, will so revive their dejected spirits, that, as 

 John Leo writes, " they set forward so fast, forgetting their tired 

 limbs, to their journey's end, that their keepers can hardly 

 follow." 



Camels are trained when extremely young for the labours which 

 they are afterwards to perform in the way of bearing burdens. 

 Their limbs being folded under their body, they are kept lying 

 down whilst they are loaded with a weight which is gradually 

 increased as they grow stronger, and in this way they become 

 accustomed to it. They are often employed in heavy work before 

 they are mature, which is another species of cruelty to which they 

 are subjected, for in reality they are not fitted to bear burdens 

 until they are nearly five years old. 



According to General Sir Charles W. Wilson's ' account of the 

 behaviour of the camels in the fight for the Nile after Abu Klea, 

 they must be peculiarly insensible to pain, for he says while 

 going his rounds in the zeribah being formed, he could not help 

 noticing and feehng for the wretched animals tied tightly down. 

 " The most curious thing was," he remarks, " that they showed 

 no alarm and did not seem to mind being hit ; one heard a heavy 

 thud, and looking round, saw a stream of blood oozing out of the 

 wound, but the camel went on chewing his cud as if nothing at 

 all had happened, not even giving a slight wince to show he was 

 in pain." On another occasion, a gun in the enemies' battery 

 opened fire on the square ; luckily only one blind shell came into 

 it. " I heard the rush of the shot through the air," he writes, 

 " and then a heavy thud behind me. I thought at first it had 

 gone into the field-hospital, but on looking round found it had 

 ' " From Korti to Khartoum." 1886. 

 2 



