CAMEL TRIBE. 
149 
CAMEL TRIBE. 
All the animals of the camel tribe are mild 
and gentle in their disposition. In a wild state 
they are not to be caught without great difficulty ; 
yet when taken young and trained to labour, they 
are made very serviceable to mankind. There 
are reckoned to be seven species,, two of which 
only are found on the old continent, the rest being 
confined to the Alpine countries of Chili and 
Peru. It is supposed that most if not all of them,, 
are gregarious, associating together in vast herds* 
The females have two teats, and seldom produce 
more than one young one at a birth. The hair of 
these animals is of a soft and silky texture ; and 
their flesh forms a very palatable food. 
In the lower jaw of the camels there are six 
front teeth, which are somewhat thin and broad. 
The canine teeth are at a little distance both from 
these and the grinders ; in the upper jaw there 
are three, and in the lower two. The upper lip 
is cleft or divided. 
These animals, like all the other genera of their 
order, are furnished with four stomachs, in conse- 
quence of which they not only live solely on 
vegetable food, but ruminate or chew the cud. 
They swallow their food unmasticated. This is 
received into the first stomach, where it remains 
some time to macerate ; and afterwards, when 
the animal is at rest, by a peculiar action of the 
muscles, it is returned to the mouth in small 
quantities, chewed more fully, and then swallowed 
f second time for digestion. 
