210 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
is peculiarly constructed for the dry arenaceous surface 
over which it has to travel, being broad and flat, 
nearly round, without any division of toes, but having 
two horny projections in front, and the foot is so soft 
and flexible, that it dilates considerably when pressed 
upon the sandy soil of the desert, into which, in con- 
sequence of its structure, it does not sink.* Besides 
this, the camel has a most peculiar internal conforma- 
tion, admirably adapted to the localities to which na- 
ture has confined it. In the stomach are a number of 
small compartments, in which the creature is enabled to 
lay up a store of water sufficient for a supply of many 
days, and these compartments are so constructed and 
located as to enable it to exhaust their contents singly. 
It uses this supply very sparingly, and with great 
caution, showing an instinctive providence against 
the saddest of casualties, truly wonderful. The large 
excrescence upon the back, which to the beholder s 
eye is a monstrous deformity, is nevertheless one of 
those admirable provisions of nature for which the 
camel is remarkable, perhaps, above all other rumi- 
nating animals. When it cannot for the moment 
* When employed to travel in hilly countries, where the 
surface is rocky, or where it has been rendered slippery by rain, 
the camel is apt to fall, and its fall is invariably fatal. The 
legs slip laterally, when, especially if it is loaded, the ponder- 
ous body falls, the members dislocating and projecting hori- 
zontally from the shoulders and haunches, and so complete is 
the luxation, that the suffering animal can never be made to 
rise. Under such circumstances, it is immediately killed, not 
only in tender mercy, but probably more frequently for the sake 
of its hide and flesh, which latter is esteemed, particularly by the 
Arabs, as very delicate food. 
