THE CAMEL— THE GIRAFFE. 



731 



one niillenium. Its servitude is of older date, more complete, and more irksome, than 

 that of any other domestic animal : of older date, as it inhabits the countries which 

 history points out to us as the cradle of mankind ; more complete, as all other domestic 

 animals still have their wild types roaming about in unrestr^ned liberty, while the 

 whole camel race is doomed to slavery ; more irksome, finally, as it is never kept for 

 luxury or state like so many horses, or for the table like the ox, the pig, or the 

 sheep, but is merely used as a beast of transport, which its master does not even give 

 himself the trouble to attach to a cart, but whose body is loaded like a living wagon, 

 and frequently even remains burdened during sleep. Thus the camel bears all the 

 marks of serfdom. Large naked callosities of horny hardness cover the lower part of 

 the breast and the joints of the legs ; and although they are never wanting, yet they 

 themselves give proof that they are not natural, but that they have been produced by 

 an excess of misery and ill-treatment, as they are frequently found filled with a puru- 

 lent matter. 



The hardships of long servitude, which have thus gradually deformed the origin- 

 ally, perhaps, not ungraceful camel, have no doubt also soured its temper, and ren- 

 dered its character as unamiable as its appearance is repulsive. " It is an abominably 

 ugly necessary animal," says Mr. Russell; "ungainly, morose, quarrelsome, with 

 tee-totalling propensities ; unaccountably capricious in its friendships and enmities ; 

 delighting to produce with its throat, its jaws, its tongue, and its stomach, the most 

 abominable grunts and growls. Stupidly bowing to the yoke, it willingly submits to 

 the most atrocious cruelties, and bites innocent, well-meaning persons, ready to take its 

 part. When its leader tears its nostril, it will do no more than grunt; but, ten against 

 one, it will spit at you if you offer it a piece of bread. For days it will march along, 

 its nose close to the tail of the beast that precedes it, without ever making the least 

 attempt to break from the chain ; and yet it will snort furiously at the poor European 

 who amicably pats its ragged hide." The camel seems to have been rather harshly 

 dealt with in this description ; at any rate, it may plead for its excuse that it would be 

 too much to expect a mild and amiable temper in a toil-worn slave. 



Which of all four-footed animals raises its head to the most towerino: hio;ht? Is it 

 the colossal elephant or the " ship of the desert ? " No doubt the former reaches 

 many a lofty branch with its flexible proboscis, and the eye of the long-necked camel 

 sweeps over a vast extent of desert ; but the Giraffe embraces a still wider horizon, 

 and plucks the leaves of the mohaala at a still greater hight. A strange and most 

 surprising animal, almost all neck and leg, seventeen feet high against a length of 

 only seven from the breast to the beginning of the tail, its comparatively small and 

 slanting body resting on long stilts, its diminutive head fixed at th^ summit of a col- 

 umn ; and yet in spite of these apparent disproportions, which seem rather to belong 

 to the world of chimeras than to the realities of nature, of so elegant and pleasing an 

 appearance, that it owes its Arabic name, Xirapha^ to the graceful ease of its nwve- 

 ments. The beauty of the giraffe is enhanced by its magnificently spotted skin, and 

 by its soft and gentle eyes, which eclipse those of the far-famed gazelle of the East, 

 and, by their lateral projection, take in a wider range of the horizon than is subject 

 to the vision of any other quadruped, so as even to be able to anticipate a threatened 

 attack in the rear from the stealthy lion or any other foe of the desert. 



