276 
pliistt's natural history. 
[Book VIII 
whelps ; this she snatches up with her teeth, and more swift, 
even, under the weight, returns to her lair, and then again 
sets out in pursuit ; and this she continues to do, until the 
hunter has reached his vessel, while the animal vainly vents 
her fury upon the shore. 
CHAP. 26. — CAMELS THE DIFPERENT KINDS. 
Camels are found feeding in herds in the East. Of these 
there are two different kinds, those of Bactria and those of 
Arabia the former kind having two humps on the back, and 
the latter only one ; they have also another hump under the 
breast, by means of which they support themselves when re- 
clining. Eoth of these species, like the ox, have no teeth in 
the upper jaw.^^ They are all of them employed as beasts of 
burthen, in carrying loads on the back, and they answer the 
purpose of cavalry in battle. Their speed is the same with 
that of the horse, but their power of holding out in this respect 
is proportioned in each to its natural strength : it will never 
go beyond its accustomed distance, nor will it receive more 
than its usual load. The camel has a natural antipathy to the 
horse.^* It can endure thirst for four days even, and when it 
has the opportunity of obtaining water, it drinks, as it were, 
both for past and future thirst, having first taken care to 
trouble the water by trampling in it ; without doiog which, 
it would find no pleasure in drinking. They live fifty years, 
some indeed as much as one hundred. These animals, too, are 
liable to fits of frenzy.^^ A peculiar mode of castrating them, 
and the females, even, when required for the purposes of war, 
has been discovered ; it renders them more courageous, by the 
destruction of all sexual feelings. 
31 Cuvier remarks, that the account given of the two kinds of camels, 
and his description generally, is correct, with the exception of their an- 
tipathy to the horse. The caravans, he says, present a constant mixture 
of the two animals, and even, in Arabia, the young foals are occasionally 
suckled by the female camel. — B. 
^ We have a similar statement in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 1. 
Indeed, the account here given generally, is taken from him. — B. 
38 See B. xi. c. 62. 
3* Mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 17, and by JElian, 
Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 7 ; but, as stated above, it is incorrect. — B. 
25 At the time of rutting, according to Solinus. 
