574 
VERTEBRATA. 
THE WELL IN THE DESERT. 
that some of tlie African caravans travel for a much, longer time "without water; but he considers 
7iine or ten days to be the utmost, and even in such cases a good many camels die on the road; 
indeed, it is well known that the carcasses of camels given up to the vultures, form one of the 
common spectacles along the routes which they travel. The means by which this creature sup- 
ports the long deprivation of moisture is said to be by storing up in the cells of the paunch and 
honeycomb stomach, a sufficient supply to last for several days' consumption. This has been dis- 
puted by some zoologists, from their finding no water in these cells on dissecting camels, and 
Burckliardt states that no great quantity of fluid is found in the stomachs of these animals, unless 
they have been driaking not long before. These reasons should not, however, be considered as 
conclusive, because we do not know the precise conditions under which the animals had been 
living. There seems, however, to be no truth in the popular belief that, when in great want of 
water, the Arabs kill a camel for the sake of the supply contained in its stomach, for Burckhardt 
never saw this plan put in practice, nor could he ever hear from the Arabs of their making use 
of any such method of supplying their necessities, although they frequently entertained him with 
accounts of the hardships they underwent in the deserts from this very cause. 
For the purpose of loading and unloading, the camels are made to kneel down, and those parts 
of their bodies and limbs which come in contact with the ground, acquire remarkable callosities 
in course of time. The most considerable of these is situated on the breast. They repose in the 
same position, and to keep them from straying during the night, their drivers tie the fore-legs in 
a kneeling position, so that they cannot rise beyond their knees. When overloaded, it is said 
that they obstinately refuse to rise, even when they are beaten most severely, and it appears that 
the drivers are by no means averse to exercising their authority in this way, the poor creatures 
being often most inhumanly treated. The load of a camel varies considerably, according to the 
distance he has to go and the hardships he will have to endure. Large, powerful camels will 
carry a weight of fifteen hundred pounds for three or four miles, and will travel for several days 
with a load of a thousand pounds. Those coming to Egypt from the interior of Africa rarely 
carry more than five hundred weight. With such loads as these they will travel about thirty 
miles a da}?'. 
A great part of the internal trade of Asia and Africa has been for ages carried on by compa- 
nies called Caravans, consisting of persons conducting numbers of these animals loaded with mer- 
chandise. The pilgrimages to Mecca are performed on the backs of camels, and sometimes several 
thousands are seen in a single company. In eastern countries, journeys are usually made on the 
