134 
ANIMALS 
The rack is a gait natural to the camel, the giraffe, 
and some few other animals; it is said to have been 
occasionally observed in the dog. 
If the horse was ever trained to rack for the use of a 
rider, it was probably for some one who wished to subject 
himself to a penance ; the personal experience of those 
who have tried it, induces an imaginary comparison with 
the torture which, a few centuries ago, it was the custom 
to inflict on recalcitrants with an instrument from which 
the gait probably takes its name. 
No references have been found descriptive of the 
sensations experienced by the rider of a racking horse ; 
but as the gait is precisely similar to that of the camel, 
a few quotations may interest those who contemplate a 
ride over the desert on that animal. There is, however, 
a breed of camel in Africa called the “hygeen,” whose 
motion is more pleasant than the ordinary riding or packing 
animal. 
Series 42 is a moderately long stride of an Egyptian 
camel. As with other animals, long confinement had 
impaired its capability of speed. For artistic purposes 
the motion is well represented. 
Morgan, in his “ History of Algiers,” says the camel 
“ makes nothing of holding its rapid pace, which is a 
most violent hard trot, for four and twenty hours at a 
stretch.” 
Beckford, in “ Vathek ” : “ The rough trot of Alboufaki 
[a camel] awoke them in consternation.” 
G. W. Curtis, “The Howadji in Syria”: “The trot 
of the usual travelling camel is very hard . . . but 
MOTION. 
MacWhirter’s [his own camel’s] exertions in that kind 
shook my soul within me.” 
It will be observed that each of these travellers speaks 
of the camel’s gait as a “trot.” The author can find 
no evidence of a camel ever having been trained to trot ; 
it certainly is not its natural gait. 
In the sixteenth century, George Peele, in an Eclogue, 
says— 
“ His Rain-deer racking with proud and stately pace 
Giveth to his flock a right beautiful grace.” 
The application of “racking” to the pace of the rein¬ 
deer seems to require some explanation. That animal, like 
other deer, trots; and no trotting animal racks naturally. 
This system of motion, under the illogical name of 
“pace,” has, mysteriously, been confounded with its very 
antithesis of gaits—the amble. Why a name applicable, 
in its broad sense, to motion of any kind, should ever 
have been allotted to a special method of animal pro¬ 
gress, is a question that defies elucidation. The absurdity 
of its use as a distinctive gait is self-evident. 
Dante (Cary), in “ Purgatory,” xxiv., has— 
“And as a man 
Tired with the motion of a trotting steed 
Slacks pace, and stays behind ...” 
Scott, in “Rob Roy,” iii., remarks, “The trot is the 
true pace for the hackney.” 
“ Guy Mannering,” xiii.: “ Dumple, . . . quickening his 
pace, trotted about a mile.” 
