252 
THE CAMEL POISONED. 
[chap. VI. 
instituting legitimate trade, and introducing manu¬ 
factures from England in exchange for ivory and other 
productions. He replied that the Turks would never 
trade fairly; that they were extremely had people, and 
that they would not purchase ivory in any other way 
than by bartering cattle, which they stole from one tribe 
to sell to another. 
Our conversation was suddenly terminated by one 
of my men running in to the tent with the bad news 
that one of the camels had dropped down and was 
dying. The report was too true. He was poisoned 
by a well-known plant that he had been caught in the 
act of eating. In a few hours he died. There is no 
more stupid animal than the camel. Nature has im¬ 
planted in most animals an instinctive knowledge of 
the plants suitable for food, and they generally avoid 
those that are poisonous : but the camel will eat indis¬ 
criminately anything that is green ; and if in a coun¬ 
try where the plant exists that is well known by the 
Arabs as the “ camel poison,” watchers must always 
accompany the animals while grazing. The most fatal 
plant is a creeper, very succulent, and so beautifully 
green that its dense foliage is most attractive to the 
stupid victim. The stomach of the camel is very 
subject to inflammation, which is rapidly fatal. I 
have frequently seen them, after several days of sharp 
