FRUGALITY AND POWER OF ABSTINENCK. , 13 



fauces and viscera, and mingling with the food in rumination, in 

 some such w^ay as certain fish are able to keep the skin moist 

 for some time after they are taken from the water, by the 

 exudation of a fluid secreted for that purpose. It is even said 

 that the fluid found in the water-sac after the death of the 

 camel possesses chemical properties which prove it to be an 

 animal secretion. The Arabs aflirm tliis to be the case, and the 

 French in Algiers seem inclined to acquiesce in this opinion. 



General Carbuccia, of the French Army in Algiers, states 

 that " a dromedary, dying by accident, was afterwards opened 

 in the presence of several French oflicers. The reservoir pre- 

 sented the appearance and consistency of a melon, and contained 

 more than flfteen pints of a greenish water of no bad flavor. 

 The Arabs present declared that if it were allowed to settle for 

 three days it would become clear and drinkable. The French 

 tried it, and the Arabs were found to be correct in their state- 

 ments." 



Now, with regard to the time that camels will go without 

 drinking, authorities differ, but all agree that his power of 

 abstinence in this respect is wonderful. A French report of the 

 expedition to I'Aghouat declares that the camels of the corps 

 did not drink from February to May, though the weather was 

 hot ; and General Carbuccia, the commander of the corps, states 

 that the Algerine camel never drinks during the last two months 

 of autumn and the entire winter and spring. He adds : " At the 

 beginning of summer he drinks, and then abstains fifteen days ; 

 after having drunk again, he goes fourteen days without water, 

 then thirteen, then twelve, diminishing gradually his periods of 

 abstinence by a day, until he reaches the seventh day, after 

 which he drinks once a week, and not oftener, whatever may 

 be the heat or the fatigues of the journey." 



Durham and Clapperton mention a case of eight days' entire 

 privation of water, with dry food. Burckhardt records an in- 

 stance of like abstinence of the same duration in the month of 

 August, and, in his " Notes on the Bedouins," he ascribes to the 

 camels of Darfur the power of dispensing with water for nine or 

 ten days, even when on the march. " The Tibboos and other 

 tribes, who constantly traverse the Sahara, are very confidently 

 affirmed to possess camels which can support a privation of 

 fifteen days without serious inconvenience. I have myself," he 



